new name
by rollercoaster182
Summary: Gail and Holly are in danger and have to go away for a little bit.
1. Chapter 1

"Gail."

"Steve."

"Please Gail."

"Don't you please Gail me. You got me into this mess."

"I know and now I'm trying to get you out of it."

"Mom mustn't be too happy with you."

"She's not but I'm trying to fix it. Please Gail, if you won't do it for me, will you do it for Traci." Gail shakes her head. "For Leo?"

Gail scrunches her face. "Oh, alright."

"Thank you. Now head home and pack some stuff before it's too late."

About a half hour later Gail returns to the station. Steve sees her and grabs her elbow to help bring her to a conference room, not wanting to let her change her mind. "Here, give me your IDs, gun, badge, and I'll lock them up for you and you can get them back when you return. Don't forget everything you've learned. You may need it, good luck sister."

Gail rolls her eyes at her brother and enters the room alone. She sees there's already a man waiting for her behind the desk. "I'm Claude Steel, please take a seat. You are officially Gail Peck no more. Your identity has been compromised. You are now Gladys Gilbert from Moonbeam, Ontario. This is all for your protection. You did nothing wrong. There are dangerous people out there who want to harm you and will try to harm you."

"Ok that's enough, I know what happened. I was there. Can I just get my new IDs and keys and I'll head out to wherever it is you said I was going."

"Normally we go through..."

"Yeah yeah yeah. I'll be fine. Thanks for the new name." With that Gail exits the room.

Steve sees her and heads over. "That was fast."

"Nothing you and I haven't heard before."

"I'm sorry Gail."

Gail, starting to get a little angry with all the apologizing, shrugs her shoulders. "Whatever." She then looks Steve straight in his eyes. "I'm giving you six months, tops, to fix everything so I can come home."

Steve nods his head. "Fine that should be plenty of time. Stay safe."

"Yeah, you too." With that Gail leaves the station to start making her trek to Moonbeam, Ontario.

Claude leaves the conference room and stands next to Steve. "Thank you for doing this. How did she take the news about not being alone?"

"I didn't get to that part."

"She's in for a surprise then." Steve shakes his head. "I need to fix this. I can't believe I let this happen."

"If there's anything else I can do to help, just call." The two shake hands and part ways.

* * *

Across town a similar conversation is unfolding. "Why do I need to go away, I'm just a doctor?"

"Unfortunately they know who you are and will try to get to you before you can cause them anymore damage."

"Me cause them damage? How? I was just doing my job…" Holly puts her face in her hands.

"And we thank you for all the work you have done. Right now we need to keep you safe and in order to do that we have decided the best option is to get you out of the city for a while. Lucky for you an officer who was made undercover also needs to escape, so she will be joining you." A slight pause. "May I continue with the formalities?" Holly nods her head. "You are officially Holly Stewart no more; you are now Heather Gilbert from Moonbeam, Ontario. We have set up bank accounts in your name as well as a house, job, car, and here are your new driver's license and health cards. We will have some documents waiting for you at the new house to get you better acquainted with the town and yourself. You are expected to lay low and act as if this new life _is_ your life and blend in."

Holly continues to nod as she is bombarded with information. After the specifics are taken care of Holly asks, "How long will I be gone for?"

"We've been told no longer than six months."

"Six months! I am expecting some very important news this month."

"I'm sorry to inconvenience you, but this is for your own safety. Anything you had planned or are planning to do will have to be put on hold, for the next little while at least."

Holly shakes her head. "I can't go. I need to stay here. I will be fine. I can take care of myself."

"Sorry but this is no longer something you can control. You are headed to Moonbeam."

Clearly not impressed, Holly picks up her new IDs and keys, and heads out the door to be driven to the airport.

* * *

After an hour and a half flight, Holly exits the airport in Moonbeam and quickly finds the car that is now hers. She gets behind the wheel and makes her way to her new house. After getting turned around a couple of times, she eventually finds the right address and parks out front. She grabs her purse and gym bag, not knowing this morning she would have to leave so abruptly, and walks up the path to a single dwelling house. She gets out the key and unlocks the front door and walks inside. Out of habit from living in the big city she locks the door behind her. She walks into a furnished living room which leads to the kitchen and a sliding door that looks out on the backyard. Holly continues to survey the house as she checks out the main floor then takes the stairs to the second story. She is pleased to see the master bedroom with an en suite as well as a guest room/study and an additional bathroom upstairs. She makes her way back downstairs and heads out back to check out the yard. While examining the yard she creates a list of things to do in her head: go grocery shopping, read the documents on the kitchen table, and not freak out.

* * *

After nine hours of continuous driving, besides the occasional stop, Gail finally makes it to Moonbeam. She pulls into the driveway and looks up at the house. "Not bad," she mumbles. She grabs her bag and makes her way to the front door. She unlocks the door and heads in. She sees a living room, kitchen, closet, bathroom, and nods her head in approval. She opens what she thinks is an additional closet but is surprised to see stairs to a basement. She goes down to check it out. There's another living space along with a washer and dryer and other utilities. She heads back upstairs and goes to the first floor to look at the bedroom. She once again gives a nod of approval and makes her way back downstairs.

* * *

After returning from shopping Holly stocked the fridge and cupboards. She read over the various documents, she then went back outside to nap in the summer sun. Holly, having already found her new favourite spot in the back yard, decides to head inside to get started on dinner. She enters the house just as a blonde is making her way into the kitchen.

* * *

Gail, immediately on alert, goes to draw her service weapon, but forgets it's no longer there. She remembers Steve has it. _Steve._ She shoots the newcomer a death glare and demands "What are you doing here? How did you get in here?"

Holly holds up her hands. "I live here," Holly looks at Gail confused. "I was wondering when you would get here. I arrived almost seven hours ago. I was honestly starting to get a little worried."

"You just got here?"

"Yes, this morning I was in Toronto, but now I live in Moonbeam."

"Why?"

"I'm going to assume a similar situation that brought you here," Holly shrugs.

Gail pauses to think for a second. "Why didn't they tell her she was being paired with someone?" she wonders. Then she remembers she barely sat through the information she was just so frustrated, still is. "Ok, I'm" Gail looks at her hand where she has her new name written on her hand and reads off, "Gladys Gilbert. And you are?"

Holly puts her hands down and says, "I am now Heather Gilbert, but before I was"

"Hold it, I'm having a hard enough time remembering my own name let alone try to remember two of yours. Let's just stick with our new names for now." Gail pauses for a second. "Did you just say Gilbert?" She then notices two wedding rings on the kitchen table next to an opened file folder with sheets of paper.


	2. Chapter 2

Gail is sitting at the kitchen table with the file open in front of her. She's rifling through the various documents as Holly sits across from her, watching and waiting. Gail finally looks up, "so…" she looks back down and re-reads, "Heather, it says here you are now a science teacher. Is that going to be a problem?"

Holly shakes her head no, "I have a background in science so that shouldn't be a problem."

"It also says you should ask to volunteer at the library, are you ok with that?"

Holly smiles, "I love to read."

Gail mumbles, "nerd." Gail looks down at the sheet of paper again, making sure she hasn't missed anything, "looks like I'm going to be a mail carrier, which will be good, I will be able to get the lay of the land." Gail thinks for a second. "It's June now, so school will probably be out soon, so you should go by the school to introduce yourself, see if they need anything from you now or if you will start in September. We need to make a presence here, make it seem like we belong." Holly nods her head to indicate she understands.

"What about you, what's your plan?"

"I will go down to the post office, report for duty tomorrow."

"Have you ever delivered mail before?" wonders Holly.

"No, but how hard can it be?" Gail stops to collect her thoughts. "I don't know what they told you about being undercover, but the rule of thumb is to stick closest to the truth. If someone asks you a question, answer it honestly, that way you don't have to remember one hundred and one different responses." Holly nods her head. "Since we are going to be a married couple, I think we need to know a little bit about each other." Holly nods her head again. "So you're from Toronto? Born and raised?"

"No, I'm originally from Montreal, but I moved to Toronto for school and then luckily I got a job in the city, which allowed me to stay. Toronto is home to me now."

Gail nods, "Montreal, that's good, so you must know some French, have you seen half these signs, predominantly French."

"How about you? Where is home?"

"Toronto, I grew up there, went to school there, never really left…until now," Gail says a little bitterly.

Holly reaches out to put a hand over Gail's, "hey, we're in this together, I don't want to be here either, but it's for both of our best interests."

Gail nods her head and looks into Holly's eyes, "thanks. Sorry about that. It's just so frustrating. I thought I was in the clear, but something must have happened…well obviously," she scoffs.

"Do you want to talk about it, all I know is that you got made under cover," Holly offers.

"Thanks, but I don't think I can, not yet at least."

Holly nods her head and gets up from the kitchen table. "Well, before you got here, I was just about to make some dinner. You hungry?"

Gail nods her head. "Do you need help or do you mind if I continue reading?"

"Go ahead, I'll cook but you're doing dishes. Any allergies I need to know about?"

"Just raw tomatoes…" Holly nods her head. "Heather?" Gail waits for Holly to look back at her, "thank you."

"Don't thank me yet, my cooking could be awful. But you're welcome."

"That's not what I meant." Holly smiles at Gail knowing what she was thanking her for.

* * *

After dinner, and all the dishes are cleaned and put away. Gail flops on the couch next to Holly. "I'm so tired and I haven't even done anything today, all I did was drive in a car for like… forever."

"You should go to bed then."

"I could really use a drink, tomorrow I'm going to the liquor store to get supplies. That was nice of you to go to the grocery store and drug store, but you missed one important stop, the liquor store. No home is complete without a well stocked liquor cabinet."

"Thank you 'Chatelaine'." Holly laughs at Gail. "Favourite colour?"

"Blue. You?"

"Green." The two continue to ask each other 'get to know you' questions that started over dinner. "Favourite number?"

Gail scrunches up her face, "favourite number, what am I twelve, star of the hockey team? What adult has a favourite number?"

"Mine's five, because there are five people in my family."

Gail laughs and thinks for a second deciding whether or not to say four. "Ok. I will choose thirteen because this is kind of unlucky."

"You can't just choose a number; it has to mean something to you."

"Can and did. Weren't you listening nerd, thirteen because I'm unlucky," Gail stands up, "I'm ready for bed, see you in the morning." She makes her way to the bedroom where she threw her bag down earlier.

* * *

Sometime later Holly makes her way to bed and lies down on the opposite side of Gail. "What are you doing?" asks Gail, "why aren't you using the spare room?

"How come you get the master bedroom?" questions Holly. "Plus it's just a couch, not even a pull out, I looked."

"So, what's wrong with the couch?"

"If you want to go sleep on a couch fine," retorts Holly, "but I'd rather not."

Gail huffs. "Goodnight nerd."

"Goodnight Gladys."

* * *

The next morning Holly wakes to an empty bed. She makes her way downstairs to a note on the coffee pot 'Gone to work. G.' She sees the ring next to the maker and puts it on. Holly reads 10am on the clock and decides she should go to the school before everyone breaks for lunch.

At the school Holly meets with the principal Mr. Bull, "So Mrs. Gilbert, you will be teaching science officially starting in September, however if we need you to supply would you mind coming in?"

"Of course, and you can call me Heather."

"Very good. We are also looking for a track and field coach, if you want to meet your students before next fall, we could really use the help."

Remembering what Gladys said yesterday about making a presence in the community, Holly quickly agrees. After the meeting Holly is given a quick tour of the school, which ends at the adjoined public library. Holly mentions that she would also like to volunteer at the library and the principal offers to introduce her to the librarian. The two enter the library and see a middle aged lady sitting behind a desk. "Ms. Dunn this is our new science teacher Mrs. Heather Gilbert, she will be starting with us in September, but she was wondering if you could use some help."

Ms. Dunn tells Holly, "I'd be foolish to turn down help. Not too many people use libraries like they used to, but without a bookstore in town, we still get plenty of people passing thru."

Mr. Bull looks at his watch. "Why don't you come by after school tomorrow to join our track practice? I need to get back to school, see you tomorrow Heather."

Holly smiles and nods her head. Ms. Dunn looks at Holly, "any experience with books?"

* * *

Gail arrives back home after her stop at the liquor store and is pleasantly surprised to find the house vacant, happy that Heather took her advice to check in at school. Gail unpacks her purchases from the liquor store and decides to take a nap, waking up in the dark and then being taught how to properly place mail in a mail box has zapped all the energy out of her.

* * *

When Holly gets to the house she notices Gladys' car in the driveway and pulls up beside it. She lets herself into the house and decides to make an early dinner, having missed lunch. While making dinner she wonders how she can get a message to her parents to let them know she is safe. Working with the police she knows how easily it is to have cell phones tracked, so she wonders if she could send a letter. While dinner's in the oven she decides to write the letter.

* * *

Gail wakes to the aroma of food. She remembers she wants to check out the spare room, but her stomach wins her over when it growls. Gail enters the kitchen just as Holly takes some dish out of the oven. Holly looks over and smiles, "I was just about to wake you."

Gail's cell phone rings. She huffs as she reads the number, _Steve_. She answers but doesn't say anything. She hears Steve, "hello?" A slight pause. "Come on Gail, say something….Or don't. *sigh* I'm just checking in to make sure you got there ok."

Gail huffs. "Why didn't you call yesterday then?" she asks petulantly.

"Gail…how many times can I say I'm sorry?"

"I know…should you even really be calling?"

"I made sure our line's secure."

"Okay. How did your day go? Any progress?"

"Not really…I'm sorry." Gail ends the call and tosses her phone on to the counter.

Holly, who watched the whole thing, wonders what to do. She's only known Gladys for a day. "Everything okay?"

"Uh…sort of, that was just my brother," Gail uses air quotes, '"just checking in."' She scoffs.

"He's just trying to be nice, looking out for you," Holly tries to calm Gail.

"Whatever." Gail grabs some plates form the cupboard, "you mentioned yesterday you have two siblings."

Holly turns toward the stove to plate the meal, "yes. One brother and one sister." Holly wonders how much to share, remembering the day before not even telling Gladys her real name. "Older brother and a younger sister."

Gail takes the plate handed towards her, "thanks." She sits at the table, "so a middle child…"

"Yes. How about you, just the one brother?"

"Yup" Gail pops the 'p.' "One older brother, the golden child. He's also in the police force and was my handler for the last assignment, and with this little situation I wonder what my parents are thinking."

Holly chuckles softly. "How was your day?"

Gail groans, "I spent the majority of my day learning how to properly place mail in a mail box. I now know the difference between envelope sizes. How was your day?"

"Good, I don't technically have to start at the school until September, however they may call me in if they need a substitute and they asked me to help out with the track and field team, I start that tomorrow. I also was introduced to the librarian and we worked out times for me to go in and lend a hand."

Gail nods her head all back to business, "sounds like you had a very productive day. That's good. Do you need help with anything, any questions in regards to your new identity?"

Holly shakes her head. The two finish their dinner learning more about the other. After the two clean up the kitchen Gail asks, "want to go for a walk?"

"Sure, it will be good to orient myself on foot in this town."

Gail laughs, "now you're starting to sound like a cop."

* * *

The two walk casually close together and are just about home when one of the neighbours emerges from their house. "Hello! Welcome to the neighbourhood!" The neighbor quickly comes over to Gail and Holly. "You two must be the ones who just bought the Reid's house. We're all happy it didn't stay vacant for long. I'm Dorothy, and I live in that grey house over there."

Holly looks over at Gail and sees a stunned look on her face. Holly smiles at their new neighbor "I'm Heather and this is Gladys, we just moved to Moonbeam."

Dorothy scrunches up her face "most people don't just move to Moonbeam."

Holly pauses waiting for Gail to take the lead, but says, "I got hired at the school and Gladys," Holly takes Gail's hand, "wasn't not going to come. So she luckily got hired at the post office and here we are." Holly smiles.

Dorothy eyes widen, "ah…I was wondering who was going to replace Mr. Simmons when he retired." Dorothy sticks out her hand for Holly, "it's nice to meet you Mrs. …"

"Gilbert, but you can call me Heather. Do you have a child in the school?"

"Yes. Four." Dorothy looks at her watch, "speaking of, I should go make sure they are done their school work." She turns to leave, but looks back. "We're having a BBQ on Sunday. Why don't you two come by to meet the rest of the neighbours?"

Holly looks over at Gail, who still looks stunned, answers, "thanks. We'll be there."

Dorothy smiles and heads inside.

Holly starts to walk back to their house but notices Gail not behind her; she turns around and sees Gail still standing there. She once again picks up Gail's hand and pulls her back to their place. Once inside Gail looks at Holly, "what was that?"

"What?" asks a confused Holly.

"We're going to dinner at their place?"

"Yeah, you said we need to fit in. What better way to fit in, in a small community then to meet the neighbours?"

Gail shrugs her shoulders, "I guess you're right. I'm so used to observing then reacting. I'm just not really into meeting new people."

Holly smiles and sarcastically says, "oh I couldn't tell."

"Whatever Mrs. Gilbert."

"You're welcome Mrs. Gilbert."


	3. Chapter 3

"What are you up to this weekend?" Gail asks Holly. The two just finished eating their breakfasts; they're sitting at the kitchen table sipping their coffees.

"I know I don't officially start until September, but I would like to start reviewing curriculum documents in order to kind of know what is expected of me in the fall."

"It's June." Gail arches an eyebrow.

"I know."

*cough* "Nerd." *cough* "So I figured since its Saturday, and neither of us 'work' today, we should take stock of everything here. See what we have, what we don't, see what we may need to get, like clothes. I don't know about you, but eventually I want to wear shorts, and I did not pack shorts."

"At least you got to pack, all I have are my work clothes I came in, my spare set I keep in my gym bag, and my gym clothes."

Gail circles back to her original point. "Right. So I think we need to see what's around."

"Okay." Holly gets up and places her dishes in the sink. "Since I've been doing most of the cooking, I will start in the kitchen; see if we need any pots and pans or what not."

Gail nods her head. "I'll check out the basement."

* * *

"Score!" yells Gail.

Holly stands at the top of the stairs, "what did you find?"

"A GameCube. I had one of these in University. Man was I good at Mario Kart Double Dash."

Holly laughs. "I thought you would have said Resident Evil."

"Hey! Look at all the games. You're in luck Heather, there is Resident Evil 4. After we're done this sweep, we'll play."

"I can hardly wait," Holly says sarcastically.

"You can't deny it, I know you like to game."

Holly laughs again and walks back to the kitchen.

* * *

"So what did we learn?"

"You're really good at Resident Evil," Gail says begrudgingly.

"No," Holly grins, "not that. What do we need for the house and ourselves?"

"I need to practice more if I want to ever get past those zombies," sighs Gail. Holly rolls her eyes. "I still don't know how you did that."

Holly can't stop smiling as she tries to bring them back on topic, "we definitely need clothing. Some bedding and towels, it's good to have spares. We could use some detergent for when we do do some laundry. Can you think of anything else?"

"Whoever owned this house previously left a lot of stuff behind."

"Maybe they were asked to."

"I've never heard of that before. It just seems odd. Whatever the reason, we need cleaning supplies as well as other random things like paper towels."

"Okay. We can get some of this stuff in town but for clothing we have to go to the city and according to Ms. Dunn, it takes about 20 minutes to get there."

Gail nods her head. "I think we should go now, get it over with."

"That's the attitude."

* * *

The two drive to the next town over. Gail reads the sign "Welcome to Kapuskasing. Population: 8,000." She laughs. "That's not a city."

"I guess compared to Moonbeam, this is a lot of people." Holly laughs.

"This is a good little trip, showing us it's not far away and it's easy to get here."

"Thank goodness for the Trans Canada Highway."

* * *

Gail walks through the front door carrying multiple bags. "I don't know why we needed to buy all these towels; we could be gone next week."

"Considering we were both told six months minimum, and I'm already tired of sharing a hair towel with you, I figured it was best if we each had our own towels."

"You're right." Gail confesses as she sits on the couch.

"Thank you." Holly smiles and jokes, "we should get the towels monographed! You know 'Mrs.G'"

Gail cringes. "Let's not."

Holly laughs. "Okay." She pauses and thinks for a second. "Speaking of our time here…would it be okay for me to call home. You know, let my parents know I'm safe."

Gail thinks for a second. "I don't know, when my brother called he was on a secure line. They say six months," she lets out a 'HA', "but I've been on an op that's lasted well over a year. It also took me close to a year to prepare myself for that stunt, so in total it felt like I was on the job for like three full years." Gail shrugs her shoulders nonchalantly.

Holly visibly gulps.

"I can ask him next time he calls?" offers Gail.

Holly looks grim, but nods.

"You okay?"

Holly forces a smile as she meets Gail's eyes. "Yeah. Uh. I'm just going to spend some time outside for a little bit."

"Uh. Okay. I'll get started putting some of this stuff away."

Holly nods again, not sure she can respond as she makes her way into the kitchen and out the back door, clearly upset for not being able to call home. This conversation seals the idea of Holly mailing her letter to her parents. She wants to make sure they don't worry too much about her.

Gail slams her head onto the back of the couch, "stupid," she mumbles to herself. "Not everyone's a cop; I need to be more sympathetic."

* * *

It's Sunday afternoon and Gail is still walking on eggshells around Holly, trying not to make the situation worse, trying not to remind Holly that she may not be able to see or talk to her family for half a year.

Gail pokes her head into the spare room where Holly is reading a book on the couch. "I'm going to do a walk around the neighbourhood, get myself used to the mail route."

Holly nods her head. "Don't be too long, we're going to Dorothy's for a BBQ later."

Gail leans her head on the door frame and peevishly asks, "do we really have to go?"

Holly smiles at Gail's attitude, "yes, it's the neighbourly thing to do."

Gail groans and ventures outside.

* * *

Gail and Holly walk over to Dorothy's, Holly carrying a pan of brownies. Gail casually asks with her mouth salivating, "when did…uh… you make those?"

"When you were playing on the GameCube."

"That explains why I didn't notice. Did you need a taste tester?"

"Did you get past the zombies?"

Dorothy sees them coming and emerges from her house, "oh I'm so happy you came!" She gives Holly a hug and tries to give Gail one who is now acting like she's being helpful holding the brownies and nods her head at Dorothy. "Well, come on in. I'll introduce you around." Dorothy guides them to a group of four and says, "this is Gladys and Heather, they just moved in. This is Evan and Ellie, they live in the red brick house with their two kids, and this is Keith and Stacey, they live in the blue siding house. Let me introduce you to Dan, my husband." The three ladies walk outside to a man starting a BBQ. "Dan these are Heather and Gladys Gilbert they just moved into the Reid house."

Dan sticks out his hand to shake their hands. "Beautiful house you have there. It could use a fresh coat of paint on the deck, but other than that it's in tip top shape."

Holly smiles. "It is a beautiful house and we were just discussing about restaining the deck, weren't we dear," she looks over at Gail, who looks confused but nods her head. Holly is about to say something else when two more people enter the backyard.

Dorothy waves them over and turns to Gail and Holly, "I almost forgot to tell you, we got more new neighbours. They just got here yesterday. Jack and Erin this is my husband Dan, and our neighbours Gladys and Heather. We are so happy you decided to join our little BBQ."

Jack and Erin greet everyone and Jack says, "we figured what's the best way to meet the new neighbours then to go to a BBQ, plus it's the neighbourly thing to do."

Gail's eyes go wide feeling like she had a similar conversation. Not trying to seem like prying she asks, "what brings you two to Moonbeam?"

Jack and Erin look at each other and laugh, "nothing really, we are newly engaged and we are looking to start a life together and we are trying to find a place to settle down, put down some roots, and start a family."

Dorothy is beaming. "Oh good! Well we are a super friendly community, if you ever need anything just ask and someone will more than willing help."

"Well, it was lovely meeting you," Gail says and grabs Holly's hand; "we're just going to head inside and grab a drink."

Dan says, "of course, make yourselves at home, anything you'd like."

The two enter the kitchen, Gail whispers to Holly, "did that seem suspicious to you?"

Holly looks at her questioningly, "did what seem suspicious?"

"All of sudden, after we arrive, two people hiding from dangerous people, there are new neighbours. Dorothy said it herself, most people don't just move to Moonbeam."

Holly now looks a little bit worried, "you do have a point. But we can't just judge them like that. What do you suggest we do?"

"We need to suss them out, find out as much as we can about them." Holly nods her head. Gail opens the fridge and grabs a beer, she holds it out to Holly who shakes her head 'no,' Gail shrugs her shoulders and shuts the door. "We have to be subtle about it though."

When the two go back into the backyard, more neighbours have showed up. Gail drags Holly back to Jack and Erin. "So how did you two meet?" Gail asks.

Jack looks at Erin and responds "Uh…we actually met at work."

"Oh." Gail shoots Holly a look. "Interesting…"

Erin picks up the conversation "yup and it was love at first sight. I don't know what I would do without him."

"Mhmmm. Sorry, how did you choose Moonbeam again?" Gail demands. "Of all the place you could relocate to, you just decided, 'wow, Moonbeam looks like a good time.'"

Holly steps in, "ha ha. What Gladys is wondering," she looks over at Gail signaling her to cool it, "is do you have family in the area or did you guys have to relocate for a job or…"

"Yeah, none of that," Erin lets out a laugh.

"Interesting…" Gail repeats herself. Hoping Jack or Erin will say something she waits patiently for one to continue, but sees Dorothy waving her and Heather over to another group of people.

Holly notices it too and says, "if you will excuse us for a second." They walk over to Dorothy where they are introduced to even more people.

* * *

At the end of the night, people start to leave, declaring they have to work in the morning. "This has been so much fun!" exclaims Dorothy.

Holly says, "Yes. Give us a month to settle in, and we'll invite everyone to our house." Gail gives Holly a look.

* * *

Holly's phone rings as they enter their house. "Hello?"

"Hi Heather, it's Mr. Bull. I was wondering if you could fill in for one of our teachers tomorrow, Miss. Hayes has a scheduled day off."

"Of course, I can come. It will be good to see what the school is like and familiarize myself to the routine."

"I'm glad you think so. Please come in tomorrow morning at 8am and I'll introduce you to the staff and students."

"See you then."

"Thanks Heather."

A smiling Holly looks at Gail "looks like I'll be teaching tomorrow."

"Are you ready for that?"

"Yes, why wouldn't I be?"

"No reason. If you feel you are in danger at all call me, if anything seems off call me," advises Gail. "I know you're really excited to be going to the school but don't let your guard down. Lately you and I have been travelling out in public together so I could manage a situation or you would go out for a couple of hours at a time and I knew where you were…at a library that no one visits."

Holly places her hand on Gail's arm. "I'll be fine," she gives a reassuring smile.

"Just be careful."

* * *

Gail left for work early the next day; Holly had a quiet house all to herself and found a note next to the coffee maker again. 'Morning Nerd, Enjoy your first day. Stay safe. I'll see you tonight. G.' Holly smiles at the thoughtfulness of the note; she could tell Gail was a little worried to let Holly go out on her own for a whole day; she would do everything she could to get home safely.

* * *

Holly arrives home and hears noises coming from the kitchen. She sees Gail stirring something on the stove; she enters the kitchen and announces her presence, "hi."

Gail turns around fast, "Heather, hi." She looks at the clock, "you're home early."

"Yeah, track practice was cancelled because of the rain." Gail nods her head. "Need any help?"

"Sure, do you want to make a salad?"

Holly smiles and says, "I can do that." She pulls out a cutting board and vegetables from the fridge.

"So, how did it go?"

"Great! The kids are so funny and they really liked me. One of Dorothy's sons was in my class, so that was nice, seeing a somewhat familiar face."

"Everything went ok then?"

"Definitely!" Gail lets out a relieved sigh. Holly continues, "It was good a trial run for September, getting to see how the school is set up and see what the routine is like. How was your day?"

"Fine, boring, I got a paper cut."

"Oh!" Holly starts to joke, "Miss. Stay Safe Out There, got herself a paper cut."

"Yes, yes, how ironic. Tell me more about your day."

"We had so much fun. And I got to teach science today." Holly rambles on about some science thing that happened in class while she prepares a salad and Gail watches her with a smile on her face.

* * *

Over dinner, Holly is trying to convince Gail to help put in a vegetable garden out back, "won't it be nice to have fresh grown vegetables?"

"That's what grocery stores are for."

"Just a couple of pepper plants?" Gail gives in and nods her head. "Ok and how about zucchini?" Gail nods her head again. "And beans! I love yellow beans!"

"Why yellow? Why not green?"

Holly shrugs her shoulders. "Yellow beans are easier to spot on the plant."

Gail laughs. "How do you feel about changing your appearance?"

"Pardon me?" Holly asks, confused at the abrupt change in conversation.

"You know, maybe dying your hair or cutting it shorter."

Holly touches her hair. "I rather like my hair…what about you," sounding defensive, "why don't you cut your hair?"

"I'm thinking about it."

They finished their dinner and cleaned up the kitchen before heading to the family room where they each took a seat on the couch and watched some TV.

* * *

Holly and Gail were just about to leave the house on Thursday afternoon to go do some grocery shopping when Holly's phone beeps. She pulls it out of her pocket and sees her phone is reminding her of an appointment she had booked a couple weeks ago for tomorrow in Toronto.

"What is it?" asks Gail.

"Uh…Just a reminder I need to pick something up at the store." Holly smiles nervously.


	4. Chapter 4

thanks for reading and reviewing.

guest: holly already sent the letter

guest: yes i like that band

* * *

"First day of summer vacation tomorrow, big plans?" asks Gail.

"Not really, I offered to help take inventory at the school and clean out the classrooms."

"Wow." Gail's eyebrows are raised. "That sounds like…fun. Living the dream," jokes Gail.

"I also have to swing by the library and finalize my plans with Ms. Dunn. Apparently, in the past, they used to do a sort of day camp at the library, but since it's just her she couldn't maintain the library and keep track of the kids, so she decided with me there we could bring it back. I'm thinking a mad science theme," Holly says excitedly.

"Uh…yeah. Okay. Sounds like you'll be a glorified babysitter, nerd. I'm sure you'll be in your glory though with mad science."

Holly smiles and says, "I've also been invited to Mr. Simmons retirement party and I am to bring a plus one."

Gail nods her head. "You should probably take Dorothy, she seems like she would be really into that."

Holly laughs. "I'm sure Dorothy is already invited…they're expecting me to bring the other Mrs. Gilbert."

Gail raises an eyebrow. "If you're asking me to be your plus one, nerd, then ask me."

"Gladys," Holly smiles, "would you accompany me to Mr. Simmons' retirement party where there will be other staff and people from the community you can talk to," Gail rolls her eyes, "as well as free food and drinks…"

Gail decides to put Holly out of her misery, "relax nerd, I'll go, even if there is going to be a lot of people there. I wasn't not going to go. I kind of have to…"

"Wow, way to make me feel special," Holly jokes.

"Anytime."

* * *

Holly walks through the front door and sees Gail playing on the GameCube in the family room. "I thought we agreed to keep that in the basement?"

Gail looks up at Holly and with her best smile says, "I wanted a change of scenery, plus the basement is so far from you."

Holly laughs, "whatever." She flops onto the couch.

"Long day?"

"I'm exhausted. I don't feel like cooking, I hope we have enough leftovers for tonight's dinner."

"We could always go out or get take out."

"I'm too tired to go out."

"I'll go to the burger joint down the street and get us a couple of burgers," offers Gail.

"A burger does sound good," Holly agrees.

Gail turns off the console, "I'll go while you rest."

"Thanks honey."

Gail smiles and leaves the house.

When Gail returns she finds Holly napping on the couch. She lets the brunette rest while she sets the table. With everything ready she wakes up Holly. The two are sitting at the table. Gail says, "I didn't know if you would want french-fries or onion rings so I got you both."

"Thanks, but you can have them." She dumps the packets onto Gail's pile of french-fries.

"Wow…thanks…" she mumbles between handfuls of fries she shoves into her mouth. "Did you have a productive day?"

"Uh…" sigh, "I think so. After finishing at the school, I went to see Ms. Dunn and she had so many ideas from years past, but…"

"They weren't what you wanted to do?"

"No." Sigh.

"So now you're trying to figure out a polite way to say 'you're ideas suck.'"

Holly gives her a lopsided smile. "Pretty much."

"I'll do it for you; I haven't told someone off in a while. I kind of miss it." Gail laments.

"No that's okay, but next time I need to tell someone off I'll ask you to do it."

"Promise?"

Holly nods her head with a smile on her face, "promise." She reaches over to steal one of Gail's fries.

"What are you doing?"

Holly looks at her questioningly, "what, I just want one."

"I don't share."

"Whatever." As she picks up one and eats it.

"I've hurt people for less."

"I'm willing to take my chances."

* * *

"Hi Gladys. I didn't know you worked here."

"Oh, hi Keith. Yeah, when Heather got hired at the school, I started looking for jobs near Moonbeam and there was an opening at the post office. I started about two weeks ago."

"That explains it; I have been on vacation these past few weeks. I didn't know we even hired anyone new." Keith shrugs his shoulders. "Anyways, it looks like you're with me today."

"Why?" asks Gail without even thinking. She sees the stunned look on Keith's face, "I mean, I already have my route and I know what to do, why do I have to go back to following someone around?"

"It's only for the morning, I'm going to show you a very important job posties do. Come on."

Gail and Keith drive through his route, dropping off mail and packages. Keith stops the truck and says, "follow me." The two walk up the path to a yellow house with a well groomed front yard. Keith knocks and immediately opens the door. He yells into the house, "Hey Mrs. Crane, it's Keith and I brought a friend with me today. How are things?"

A voice from inside the house says, "could you keep it down, I'm trying to watch my show." Gail and Keith hear a cickity click clickity click, the sounds from the iconic wheel that sends people to showcase showdowns. They finally enter the room and Gail sees an old lady still in her bath robe sitting in a lazy boy watching a television. "He's no Bob Barker and I don't know who he thinks he's fooling with that bleach blonde dye job," she looks over at her guests and sees Gail, "oh but yours is nice." Mrs. Crane rolls her eyes and looks back at the tv.

"Wow," says an indignant Gail. "Rude."

Keith smiles. "You get used to it. She used to give me a hard time for not watering her indoor potted flowers properly, I offered to stop and now she seems to be fine with how I water her plants."

"How do you water flowers wrong? Were you pouring the water on the floor?"

"Ha! No…So anyways, mail carriers check on the elderly in the neighbourhood and can perform simple tasks if need be, if they ask us or if we offer. Any questions?"

Gail shakes her head. Mrs. Crane faces the two, "is blondie going to be checking on me?"

"Yes."

"Well okay then, but before you two go, Keith show her how to properly water the flowers, I don't want to have to show her too."

Gail chuckles. "Damn Keith, you must have really messed up watering her flowers."

Keith rolls his eyes. "I'll never live it down."

* * *

Holly had the house to herself. She was in the bathroom pacing back and forth with her pregnancy test on the sink. Normally Holly thought of herself as a patient person but right now she couldn't stand the not knowing. She grabs the test and sits in the dry bathtub placing the test on the tiled floor; she rests her head against the back of the tub and closes her eyes. Last week she was to have her blood test appointment because those are a lot more accurate, but obviously she couldn't attend it.

She gets startled from her watch's alarm beeping and thinks she must have dozed off a bit. She gives herself a slight pep talk to pick up the test and look. She grabs the test that is still lying on the floor and lets out a sigh of relief when she sees the results.

* * *

Mrs. Crane had a list of tasks she wanted Keith to do. "You had a lot of jobs for me today."

"Maybe you shouldn't go on vacation for so long," Mrs. Crane quips. "Good thing you have blondie with you to help."

"It's Gladys, ma'am," says Gail, who's holding a ladder for Keith who's changing some light bulbs on the ceiling

Mrs. Crane yawns. "Please, keep talking; I only yawn when I'm super fascinated."

"Wow." Gail mouths. She can fell the ladder shake slightly with Keith chuckling.

Mrs. Crane walks towards the front of the house while Keith gets off the ladder and looks over the list one last time to make sure they got everything. "How often do you visit the elderly?" asks Gail, hoping it's not often.

"I can hear you," yells Mrs. Crane from the other room.

"No you can't," yells back Gail.

"About once a week or so, depending on my schedule," Keith shrugs his shoulders. "We usually split up the load so we rotate who visits who."

"That way you don't get Mrs. Cranky every time?" asks Gail.

"I said I can hear you and its Mrs. Crane," says Mrs. Crane.

Gail lets out a huff. "Something like that," says Keith.

* * *

Gail and Holly are in the family room playing Mario Kart Double Dash. Holly's on the couch and Gail's sitting on the floor with her back against the couch, Gail grabs a bag of candy from next to her and pops a few gummy bears in her mouth. Holly hears the rustling and looks over, "ooh, candy, pass."

Gail looks over. "I don't share." Holly mocks, "I don't share, pass." Gail passes over the candy.

"I bought it," Gail grumbles.

"From our joint bank account," Holly laughs.

"I'm still not used to that, the most I've ever shared with a partner was a room, and in retrospect that seemed more of a convenience than anything. Well, actually I still share a house with him and another colleague. We've kind of dubbed it the frat house."

"Wait, you live with your ex?"

"Yes. He's not my most recent ex, we dated while we were rookies, realized we're better off as friends, hence roommates…do you live with anyone?"

"Ah, no. I live by myself in a town house. I haven't lived with someone in about a year, which is when my ex moved out."

"Ha! Exes! My last ex fell for my friend while we were dating and doesn't understand why I don't want to have anything to do with them, now that they've started dating or whatever they call it. Doesn't matter, it got me out of a relationship I was basically trying to get out of anyways."

"Yeah I used to be like that, find any excuse to get out of a relationship, but it turns out I didn't like men."

"I don't think I like men either."

Holly says, "I mean I'm a lesbian."

"Oh I mean I hate people." Gail adjusts her grip on the controller. "Pass the candy nerd, and press start." Holly smiles as she tosses the candy over.

* * *

Gail and Holly decided to walk to the party since they only lived a couple blocks away; everything in Moonbeam was only a couple blocks away. "So is this a date?" asks Gail.

"What? Why?" wonders Holly.

"Well we're going out…"

"to a retirement party."

"…we got dressed up…"

"for a retirement party."

"…and you asked me."

"You told me to!"

Gail holds open the door for Holly to pass through. "Same thing." Gail follows Holly as she leads the way through the school. "You didn't tell me it was going to be in the gym. It smells like stale vinegar and too much body spray."

"Thanks for coming with me Gladys," Holly smiles.

"Like I said, I didn't really have a choice."

"Heather!" Holly gets called over to some staff member.

Holly turns to Gail, "will you be okay on your own for a bit?"

Gail scans the room and spots Keith, "yeah I think I'll manage." Holly gives Gail's arm a squeeze and heads over to the co-worker who's waving her over.

* * *

Gail is talking to Keith and one of their neighbours, whose she just met but can't remember his name. She did a scan of the room and sees Dorothy and Dan. _I guess Heather was right, Dorothy did get invited_ , she thinks. She loses track of Holly as she exits the gym with someone, she's also not been paying attention to what Keith and the neighbour are talking about. Gail scrunches up her face when she sees the newest neighbours, Jack and Erin. _What are they doing here; they can't possibly know Mr. Simmons._ Keith excuses himself to go to talk to Mr. Simmons.

Holly enters the gym. The neighbour, "oh man, who is that?"

Gail, "oh, that's Heather…"

"Damn she's hot; whoever she's with is one lucky SOB. I would…"

"My wife."

"Oh…" neighbor floundering, "um…I'm just going to go check on the kids." He quickly tries to get away.

Holly sees Gail standing by herself and fuming, so she goes over. "Everything okay?"

"Just peachy."

Holly snakes her arms around Gail, she threads her fingers together and gives Gail a hug from behind. "Playing nice with others?"

"You know me; sometimes I don't like to share."

Holly hums in acceptance, "don't I know it." She rests her chin on Gail's shoulder. "You do look nice tonight."

"See that and you were worried I'd never have a reason to wear this dress."

Gail can feel Holly chuckle. "Yeah…worried," Holly says sarcastically. "More like, why are you buying a dress, we came for shorts…I'm glad you had a reason to wear it." They stand together for a few seconds. "Want to meet some of my coworkers?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Not really, no." Holly takes Gail's hand and leads her to a group of teachers and she makes the introductions. Gail plays the role of spouse perfectly by talking up Holly and how great she is. Holly beams from ear to ear at the compliments that Gail is giving her.

* * *

Charlie Stewart got home from work and was opening mail on the island counter in his kitchen. He sees an envelope without a return address and thinks _weird_. He thinks he recognizes the printing but it has definitely changed since the last time she wrote them a letter, which was probably when she was still in school. He opens it regardless and reads it through. He wonders why she didn't just call and tell them she was going away for work or send them a text. He shrugs his shoulders and puts the letter back in the envelope to show his wife.

* * *

Gail feels like she has met too many people. She's tried her trick on how to memorize their names that she's been using ever since she's started her career as a police officer, but she just can't focus anymore, not with Jack and Erin here. _Why are they here? It just doesn't make sense._ Gail has been on her best behavior, nodding politely, making idle chit chat with randos, but she is almost at her limit. She has somehow gotten separated from Holly again and has been trying to find a reason to leave when she notices Dorothy standing with some of the neighbours and excuses herself from Mr. Bowtie-that's not his real name but that's how she's going to remember him-he teaches history and has 365 different bowties, and has been going on and on about the different patterns he has.

Gail walks over to Dorothy and figures she'd rather find out about the neighbours instead of bowties. "So did everyone get invited to this thing?"

Dorothy smiles when she sees Gail. "Sure seems that way doesn't it? Mr. Simmons has been at the school for so long that he taught Dan and I, and now our kids."

"Wow. That's impressive. I hope to stay in my career for that long."

"Deliver mail for thirty some years…"

"Uh...yeah." Gail shrugs her shoulders, she meant being a police officer, but sure, why not eh? Gail looks around and nods her head in Jack and Erin's direction, "what are they doing here?"

"I honestly don't know. I can't possibly think of a way they would know Mr. Simmons."

"Hmmm…" Gail looks around for Holly, hoping that they have spent enough time here that they can finally leave.

Dorothy turns to Ellie, "are you guys still having troubles with the bunnies eating your plants?"

"No. Ever since you gave me the hair trimmings and I scattered them around the plants they haven't eaten anything down. Thanks again."

"Hey, no problem. I was just going to throw that stuff out anyways," replies Dorothy.

Gail shakes her head, "why do you have hair clippings?"

"I'm a hairdresser."

Gail raises her eyebrows, "oh…that's fun. I was actually thinking of getting a haircut."

"Come over anytime, I cut hair in my basement. I'm sure I can squeeze you in."

* * *

Gail somehow maneuvers herself into a group of people that is super close to where Jack and Erin are standing alone, she starts eavesdropping on Jack and Erin's conversation hoping she can glean some information and decide whether they are imposters or not. She can hear Jack say, "I think one is a postal worker and the other works here."

Gail's eyes shoot open wide, _they're talking about Heather and I._ She tries to back up to get a little bit closer and hear them better. Erin says, "I heard that…"

"There you are!" Holly approaches Gail. "Ready to go?"

"No," pure confusion on Holly's face, "yes but…"

"Then let's go I want a Mario Kart rematch." Holly grabs Gail's hand and walks them to the exit.


	5. Chapter 5

Its night and it's raining outside. Both ladies are lying in their shared bed, each on their backs and on their sides of the bed. There's a respectable gap in between them, an unspoken no-man's land. The lighting and thunder feels like its right outside their window. Gail's on the verge of drifting to sleep when she hears a whispered, "Gladys…" no response, "are you asleep?"

"hmmm…"

"Could I ask you a favour?"

"hmmm…"

"Could I maybe…ummm…could I please hold your hand?"

Without even thinking Gail stretches her arm out to the space between them and Holly immediately latches onto her hand. Gail can feel the sweatiness of Holly's palm and how tight she's squeezing her hand. Gail opens her eyes and sees a troubled Holly. "You okay?"

Holly looks over at Gail and tries to respond with words but ends up nodding her head 'yes.'

Gail recognizes the fear in Holly's eyes and wants to do more. "Come here." Gail pulls Holly closer to her and can feel Holly tuck into her side as Gail puts a protective arm around her.

"I'm okay," Holly mumbles, trying to convince herself and Gail, "it's just the storm," she forces a laugh, "ever since I was young I never cared for them, I always thought I'd grow out of it," she forces another laugh.

"You still got time," assures Gail.

This time Holly lets out a real chuckle, "I suppose you're right."

The two lay in silence for a little while and Gail can't help but notice the tingly sensation she seems to get every time she and Holly are close. She really noticed the other day when they were at the retirement party and Holly gave her a calming hug, but she brushed it off as some sort of lingering anger for that neughbour guy who was bugging her. She can't deny it now, with all the hand holding they'd been doing lately and right now as they lay here Holly holding onto her and apparently not letting go until the storm is gone. She hears a whimper as a really loud crash thunders outside. "Would it help to talk about it?"

Holly's silent for a little bit, she uproots her head from under one of Gail's arms to lay her head next to Gail's on her pillow. "It's stupid; I was a child heading home from a friend's house a couple blocks away when it started to rain. I thought nothing of it and continued at my leisurely pace through the drizzle, when out of nowhere a bolt of lightning strikes right in front of me and blows a chunk of cement from the sidewalk, and the thunder and the noise from the cement was so loud…" she takes a few calming breaths, "I'm fine with rain and storms that are far away in the distance, but when they feel as if they are right outside my window, it's too close for comfort."

Gail thinks for a second staring into Holly's dark brown eyes, trying to figure out the best way to respond. "I'm afraid of teddy bears. I don't know when it started, I remember sleeping with one as a child, but all of a sudden I start having nightmares of teddy bears chasing me and now whenever I see one I unintentionally scowl at it."

"Huh."

"Yeah, I know, it's a weird fear. At least yours makes sense; you almost got struck by lightning," Holly whimpers, "shit, sorry. I'm pretty much afraid of Winnie-the-pooh, a fluffy, stuffed, non-threatening teddy bear."

Holly lets out a soft laugh, "what happens in your dream? Why are they chasing you? Did you steal their honey?"

"I'm not sure, I'm running as fast as I can, I take a glance back and I see them gaining on me, that purple one has gotten close multiple times to catching me. One of these days I'm going to flip the tables, but not yet. I usually end up falling into a pit and they all essentially dog pile me and I feel like I'm drowning, which is when I usually wake up, panting." Gail's completely surprised she's sharing all of this, she doesn't know why, she's coming to realize that she freely tells Holly anything. Gail sighs, _what is happening?_ She's never been like this with anybody. She can hear the storm fading into the distance and sees that Holly's eyes are getting heavy so she continues to talk to help the other woman drift off to sleep. Gail smiles to herself when she sees Holly close her eyes a final time for the night. She reaches over to brush some stray hairs off of Holly's face before she too falls asleep.

* * *

Its Thursday morning, Gail's off to work and Holly is lying in their bed debating if it's time to get up yet…her stomach decides for her and she sprints to the washroom. She's happy that Ms. Dunn decided to give her the first full week of summer vacation off, but after that they will start a day camp program at the library on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Holly truly is looking forward to it; she just needs to finish vomiting before she can think about anything else.

Holly feels like she is done…for now, so she gets up off the bathroom floor to rinse her mouth out and start her day. Lucky for her the sickness only started this week, and if the book she borrowed from the library is right, only ten more weeks of this.

She had been feeling nauseous these past two weeks, the precursor of morning sickness, at least that's what she's read, and so far it hasn't been too bad, only vomiting once or twice in the morning and being somewhat fine the rest of the day. She still decides she's going to take it easy, a light breakfast then a nap in her favourite spot out back. She smiles to herself just thinking about the prospect of a nap.

* * *

After her late morning/ early afternoon nap, Holly decides to get some of the supplies she will need for next week. The library doesn't have a very large budget so she's trying to be extremely thrifty. After finally talking Ms. Dunn into the mad science idea, Holly is trying to come up with fun educational activities to do and games to play, however it is summer vacation so she doesn't want to bombard them with too much learning and to be able to play outside and enjoy the nice weather, as she throws a few water guns into her cart. She starts to walk away, but circles back and puts an extra one in for Gail.

* * *

Gail ventures over to Dorothy's one day after work; she knocks on the door and is greeted by Dorothy. "Do you have time to cut my hair?"

"Of course, my next appointment isn't for another hour. Come on in." Dorothy shows her to her in home hair studio. "Take a seat." Dorothy puts a black cover around Gail and gets the instruments ready. "So, how much are we taking off today?"

"All of it," Gail says nonchalantly. "I would like you to crop my hair."

"So a pixie cut. Does the missus know I'm cutting off all your hair?"

"Sort of," Gail blushes, not really sure what to say. "Let's just call it a surprise, plus its summer, less hair so I can stay cool." Gail tries to justify.

"Uh- okay." Dorothy starts to talk about her kids and how she tries to keep them busy during the summer so they don't bug her so much, "I have one at his friend's house, two over at my sister's, and the last one…the last one is…" Dorothy scratches her head desperately trying to remember, "you're laughter is not helping," she says to a laughing Gail. "He's with Dan," she declares victoriously. "He's with Dan," she repeats. "You'll see, when you start having kids, when someone offers to lend a hand, you pretty much always agree. I mean, I'm sort of a stay at home mom because I work from home, but sometimes you just need a bit of peace and quiet. I love them all, I wouldn't buy another one for a nickel and I wouldn't sell any of them for a million dollars." Dorothy finishes spraying down Gail's hair, "are we retouching up your dye job too?"

"No, I'm thinking of letting my hair go back to its natural colour."

"Is this because of what Mrs. Crane said? Because the bleach blonde does suit you."

"What?! No?!" Gail laughs. "I kind of forgot about that actually, I just want to let my hair reset, if that makes sense."

"It does, and it's a good idea too. Keith was telling us how you two went to see Mrs. Crane and how happy he was to not be the one taking jabs from her," Dorothy laughs, she picks up the scissors and starts cutting.

"Yeah, she's a feisty one," Gail rolls her eyes. Dorothy starts to talk about some summer activity her sons are in and Gail thinks about what it would be like if she had a child of her own.

Dorothy kind of wakes Gail up from her day dream with, "you two have been here for around two months now right?" Dorothy sees Gail scrunch up her face in the mirror, "you and Heather have been in Moonbeam for about two months," Gail nods her head. "I have never seen the two of you out on a date or kiss…"

"Date? Kiss?" Gail questions, still not sure how they got on this topic.

"Yeah," says Dorothy, "it's kind of weird. Most married couples kiss or go on dates. Dan and I have a scheduled date night every week." Dorothy's phone beeps, "one second." She goes to retrieve her phone, "looks like my last appointment just cancelled," she looks at her watch, "well I'm done here," as she brushes the hair off of Gail's shoulders, "want to have a beer with me on the deck?"

Dorothy takes off the black cover and Gail immediately touches her hair. "It turned out pretty good, eh?"

"Yeah…yeah I really like it," Gail says, a little lost for words.

"So…beer?"

"Uh, yeah. Let's go."

* * *

First day of the library's day camp and Holly is excited. She has it all planned, the kids are going to be making self propelling cars with elastic bands and she's going to explain how it all works. Hopefully they'll learn something. She feels good today, only vomited once and not the slightest nauseous.

Her and Ms. Dunn work well together, the kids build the cars in the morning, have story time before lunch, go outside and play, then its home time. Holly feels the first day was a success as the last kid gets picked up and she helps Ms. Dunn put the library back to normal. "See you on Wednesday!" says Holly as she starts her walk home.

* * *

Gail and Dorothy are sitting on the back deck sipping on some beers enjoying the late afternoon summer sun. "I live for this time of year," says Dorothy.

"It is nice to feel the sun on your face, with my mail route I put on sunscreen before I head out, and at least once during the route," as she pulls a bottle of sunscreen from her satchel she had with her and starts to apply another layer. "I don't want to get burnt."

Dorothy laughs, "I've never had that problem, when I was in my teens I would put on bronzer and lay in the sun all day with my friends, but now I just sunscreen up the kids and tell them to play outside." She laughs again.

"I envy you, I never could tan, all my attempts ended me becoming a tomato. It's a lot warmer south of here, so I don't think I'll get burned this year, but better safe than sorry. "

"How do you like Moonbeam so far?"

Gail looks at Dorothy, she has this weird feeling that they've met before, but she can't remember where or when. Who knows, maybe they haven't met before; maybe Dorothy just has one of those faces. "It's nice, people here are definitely friendly. Look it, you can see into my backyard, anywhere else that would bother me, but here it doesn't. Have you lived here your whole life?"

"No, I moved here when I married Dan. I'm actually from North York."

Gail's eyes light up, "a suburb of Toronto."

"Someone paid attention in school," Dorothy jokes.

Gail internally debates whether or not to tell Dorothy that she's also from Toronto, but decides against it. "Yeah…ha ha." Gail forces a laugh. Gail looks at Dorothy again and thinks, _damn she looks awfully familiar…_

Just then Dan walks into the backyard; Dorothy goes to take another sip of her beer and realizes it's empty. "Do you want another one?"

Gail looks at her watch, "uh…no, maybe another time, I should get going. Thanks though, and thank you for the hair cut. What do I owe you by the way?"

Dorothy thinks for a second, "how about you watch the kids for me one day?"

"You sure?"

"What, it'll be good practice for when you have children of your own. Plus…"

"You never pass up an opportunity to have some peace and quiet," finishes Dan, who leans down to give Dorothy a smooch on the cheek. "Hi Gladys, nice hair cut!"

* * *

Gail's in the kitchen prepping their dinner when she hears the door unlock and figures Heather must be returning from her outing. Holly enters the kitchen and immediately sees Gail's new haircut. "Whoa." She immediately makes a bee line to Gail and touches the short locks. "I really like your hair." She runs her fingers through it, Gail smiles at the sensation, getting those tingly feelings all over her body again.

"Yeah?"

"It suits you."

Gail tries to brush off the compliment. "Thanks. It's not like I can reverse it anyways." She realizes she likes the feeling she gets when her and Holly are in contact.

Holly laughs, she can't stop staring at the new do, she shakes her head to break herself out of her trance. "Let me go put this stuff away and I'll come help you."

"Sure. Take your time, I have this under control." Gail continues to skate around the kitchen and starts to cook.

Heather reenters the kitchen. "I've decided to put my phone away, I figure I can't pick up when my parents or friends call and I can't call them, even though I desperately want to at times, I lost track of the amount of times I wanted to call my mom today," she sighs, "so there really is no reason for me to use it." She takes the phone out of her pocket, officially turns it off, opens one of the kitchen drawers and tosses it in. She lets out a sigh of relief.

"How do you feel?"

"Kind of like a weight has lifted off of my shoulders. Without being able to constantly see my missed calls and what not, I hopefully won't feel as pressured to return calls." Gail smiles at her. "I could use a hug though."

"Dorothy's home," Gail suggests.

"Gladys…" Holly whines and opens her arms for Gail.

"Fine," she huffs and gives Holly a hug, realizing that Holly has once again made her do something she normally wouldn't do.

* * *

A few days later Gail's watering the vegetable garden. She hears the sliding door open and shut and hears Holly walk over to her. Holly leans in to whisper something in her ear, but Gail turns her head at the last moment and their lips meet. Holly pulls back and whispers, "sorry."

Gail places her free hand on Holly's face and says, "don't be." She places a kiss on Holly's lips and whispers, "the neighbours are watching."

"I know, that's what I came to tell you."

"They think it's weird that we don't kiss in public…"

Holly smirks and says, "we should change that…" this time Holly kisses Gail.

* * *

The two are sitting at the kitchen table eating take out and Gail is way up in her head. _I kissed Heather,_ she thinks, _Heather kissed me. What does it mean?_ Gail looks up to take a glance at Heather and sees her smiling at her, _what does that mean?_ Gail scrunches up her face, Holly loses her smile and with a look of sadness in her eyes drops her gaze to her plate, _now what does that mean?_ Gail breaks the silence by saying, "I'd like to know more about you."

Holly sort of laughs and says, "okay…"

"I think we should each write down ten questions and put them in a bowl, and every so often one of us will draw form the bowl and we both have to answer the question."

"Okay. I like that idea." Holly reaches over and grabs two pieces of paper and pens off the counter and passes them to Gail. "Any question?"

"Any question."

The two continue to eat in silence as they now think of questions to ask the other. Gail finishes her dinner and questions first and grabs a bowl from the cupboard, she tears her piece of paper up so that a question is on each slip and drops them in the bowl. She starts to clean up the kitchen as she waits for Holly. Holly eventually drops her questions into the bowl and brings her dish to the sink to clean. "So should we each pull a slip of paper and ask the question?"

"Sure." Gail walks over to the bowl and stirs the paper around for a second before she pulls a slip. "Can you rollerblade?"

"I can ice skate, so I'm assuming I can rollerblade, so yes. Can you?"

"Wait, what? You think the skill is transferable?"

"I think it would be."

"Well, when we get back to Toronto, nerd, we are going to go rollerblading because I want to see if your theory works."

Holly laughs, "but not until the spring time right?" Gail nods her head. "I'm assuming you can rollerblade?" Gail nods her head again. "One question down, nineteen to go." Holly pulls a question, "what's your favourite day of the week?"

"Saturdays, the best cartoons are on Saturdays." Holly laughs, "you?"

Holly thinks for a second, "Thursday, there is one day of the work week left and you have the whole weekend to look forward to."

"Thursday? Isn't there two days left? Thursday and Friday?" Gail snorts.

"You don't count the day you're on."

"Uh. Okay."

"Should we ask another one?"

"Okay." Gail pulls a slip of paper and recognizes her handwriting as she nervously asks, "can we kiss again?" Gail inches closer to Holly.

"Yes," says Holly as she takes a step towards Gail, "can we kiss again?"

"Yes," responds Gail as she grabs Holly's face and crashes their lips together. Something inside Gail clicks, she's not sure what, but she knows for certain that she likes Heather and no matter how much time they spend together she wants to spend more.

* * *

Holly comes home to a quiet house, she looks outside, she checks upstairs, sees the GameCube unoccupied and still in the family room, _maybe Gladys is still out_ , she thinks. Then she hears a sneeze coming from the basement. She finds Gail laying on one of the couches with a blanket over her.

"What's worst then being sick?" Gail asks Holly when she sees her walking down the stairs.

"Being sick in the summer," Holly responds.

"Being sick in the summer on your period" Gail complains. "It's like being hot on hot on hot, there's no escaping it, which is why I'm in the basement, it's nice and cool down here," Gail huffs out a breath. "I blame you; if you hadn't kissed me I wouldn't be sick."

"Why would me kissing you make you sick? I'm not sick."

"You might not be sick, but you're definitely a carrier." Gail grumbles. "Being around all those children, with their children germs."

Holly laughs, "we don't have to kiss anymore."

"Oh you'd like that wouldn't you," Gail argues.

"I'm not entirely sure why you're upset and what you think you're going to achieve…"

"I'm sick," Gail whines.

Holly sits on the couch next to Gail so she can place her hand on her forehead to take her temperature, "you're not fevered, just a little warm, probably just a common cold. I'm sure you'll feel better with a little rest."

Gail rolls her eyes, "oh, thank you _doctor…_ " she lets out a huff. "What gives you the authority to tell me I'm sick?" she questions.

"You're welcome, after all, I am Dr. Holly Stew-" Holly realizes what she just said, but finishes it anyway, "art, I'm Dr. Holly Stewart." She sighs and is nervous to see how Gail reacts.

Gail, who is just as shocked as Holly, is also not sure how to respond. After that first day of Gail stopping them from sharing their real names, they had been good using their new names. Not sure how to precede Holly gets off of the couch and heads to the stairs, "why don't you rest and I'll go make some chicken noodle soup for you."

"With the little noodles?"

"If we have some…"

"Thanks Holly."

Holly smiles at the use of her name, "you're welcome…"

* * *

Gail wakes from her nap and hears voices coming from upstairs. She feels a little groggy and can't remember why she's in the basement. *achoo* _Oh yeah, sick_. Gail extracts herself from the blanket nest she created and moves towards the stairs. She begins her climb up the stairs, she's about to walk into the kitchen when someone bursts into laughter. She stops where she's standing and listens for a few seconds, she recognizes Holly's voice, but can't place the other voice. Gail enters the kitchen and sees Erin sitting at the kitchen table, laughing at something Holly said. Gail's already scowling, she's not sure why, is it because she still doesn't trust Erin and yet she's in their house or is it because she' laughing with Holly. Either way this isn't what Gail was expecting when she woke up.

Holly sees Gail and walks over tentatively, "hey honey, how are you feeling?"

"Fine." Gail gives a fast answer.

Holly places a hand on Gail's arm, "you sure?"

"Mhmmm…" Gail drops her voice, "what's she doing here?" she nods her head in Erin's direction.

"Oh…" Holly nervously laughs, "she came over for a cup of flour…"

"Hi Gladys! How are you? Heather says you're under the weather?"

"…hi Erin…I'm feeling better after my nap…" Gail pulls her eyes off of Holly and looks directly at Erin, "how come you came all the way to our house, a street over, instead of going to your next door neighbours?"

Erin smiles at Gail, "I was making my dough and realized I needed more flour, I happened to look out my kitchen window and saw Heather lounging out back, so I figured I'd come ask her for a cup of flour." Erin glances around the kitchen, a little uncomfortable, "speaking of which, I should probably go…thanks again for the flour Heather, and I hope you feel better Gladys. See you guys around."

Holly shows Erin out of the house and returns to the kitchen. "You're too suspicious, Erin seems nice." Holly goes to the stove and stirs the soup in the pot.

"That's her job, to seem nice, so she can learn all about you…all about me…and learn why we're actually here and report back to whomever…" Gail looks at the clock, "who makes bread at 7 o'clock at night?" Gail asks with an air of superiority.

Holly stops her, "I know why we're here, and I won't try to hurt our situation, I'll be cautious." Holly tries to assure Gail

"Okay…I'm sorry…it's hard," sigh, "I'm sure it's just as hard for you too…" Gail sits at the kitchen table.

"It is…are you ready to talk about it?"

"Maybe some other day…"

"Okay…" Holly nods her head. She grabs a bowl from the cupboard and ladles some soup into the bowl. She places the bowl in front of Gail.

"Whoa…" Gail is shocked.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh no, I'm fine. I just didn't think you were actually going to make me soup. I don't think anyone ever made me soup before. Well sort of…I think my mom got the house keeper to make soup for my family when one of us was sick, and my past boyfriends would usually show up with a can of soup I had to prepare myself…"

"It's the thought that counts right?" Holly jokes and starts to clean up the kitchen.

"Aren't you going to have some with me? You made it after all…"

Holly grabs a bowl for herself and gives Gail a lop-sided smile as she joins her at the table.


	6. Chapter 6

about the pregnancy: I was being vague on purpose because I hadn't decided whether I actually wanted to make Holly pregnant and it would be easier to change the idea if I chose not to, however there are 'clues/hints'…she was expecting some important news (vague), she wasn't drinking (vague), but then she took a test in the bathroom…pregnancy test, I have now added the word pregnancy to make it clear. More clarification, Holly's been pregnant the whole time she was in Moonbeam; she was pregnant in Toronto and now in Moonbeam

* * *

Gail and Holly are sitting shoulder to shoulder on the couch watching TV. Gail turns off the television and turns to Holly.

"So…"

"So…"

"We should talk…"

"We should talk…could you please remember to put the cap on the toothpaste; it is completely annoying seeing it lying around the sink."

"Ha! Seriously? Miss. I use up all the tissues and don't replace the box!"

Both smile and laugh at each other. "So, we should talk?"

"Yeah, we should talk."

"I think I liked you from the very beginning…"

Holly cuts Gail off, "when you mimed drawing your 'hand' gun on me?"

"Ok, so maybe not from the very beginning…and that was a misunderstanding…"

"Oh, was it when you had a mini freak out and started getting upset with me because your brother messed up and sent you to Moonbeam?"

"Ummm…can I restart?"

Holly smiles, "I'm just giving you a hard time."

*Phew* "Oh…okay…ha ha?"

"Yes you can restart, I promise not to interrupt you." Holly leans over and places a kiss on Gail's cheek.

"Holly…" Gail's looking into Holly's eyes, "I think I like you, you're super smart and beautiful and kind and this is all new to me and I would like to see if there's something there between us...and how do you feel?" Gail waits patiently for Holly to say something. "Oh now you don't say anything, this is your time nerd."

"Calm down…I like you too…I was only thinking…"

"Oh, sorry…wait…you like me too?" Holly nods her head, "even after I pulled my 'hand' gun on you?" Gail asks sheepishly.

Holly nods her head again. "I think we should take it slow though, make sure we actually have something and it's not just because…" Holly trails off.

"Not just because we are forced to live together here and act like a married couple."

"Yeah…" The two are silent for a second before Holly asks, "would you like to go on a date sometime?"

"Yes." The two smile at each other with big grins on their faces. Holly leans in to kiss Gail on the lips, at the last second Gail says, "Dorothy will be so happy." Holly rolls her eyes and gives Gail's shoulder a slap before she finally closes the gap.

* * *

Gail comes home from the post office the one day and finds Holly sitting at the kitchen table reading, "is that a newspaper? Did you subscribe to the local newspaper?"

"Uh…" Holly takes her eyes off of the paper, "yeah, I did."

"How very weird of you…" Gail says. "Who knows how long we're going to be here, what's the point of a subscription we're just going to cancel it soon anyways? Also, I'm sure it comes in an electronic version."

"I prefer paper."

"Of course you do…I'm going to go change."

* * *

Holly and Gail are enjoying Saturday morning breakfast together when Holly pulls another slip of paper from the bowl, "how did you learn to cook? Ooooh…I actually want to know this one."

"You didn't want to know the others?"

"Some of them are silly, so how did you learn to cook?"

"My mom…" says Gail.

"That's nice; your mom taught you how to cook."

"Let me finish nerd…my mom likes to set me up on blind dates, and she must have some sort of coupon for those types of things because I feel like every time I'm set to meet someone it's at a cooking class."

Holly laughs. "Well at least you got a life skill out of it."

"Yup. How did you learn to cook?"

"My mom and dad work regular 9-5 jobs, so after school my brother, sister, and I would walk to our grandma's house and she would look after us until one of our parents came to retrieve us. So we would work on our homework, play games, go outside, and sometimes I would find myself in the kitchen helping my grandma make dinner for her and my grandfather. So my grandmother taught me how to cook." Holly has a fond smile on her face.

Gail asks Holly, "are you close with your family?"

"Yeah, I'd say so…I don't see them as much now that I live in Toronto, but I go home every Christmas and whenever I can. My brother still lives in Montreal, and my sister lives in Quebec City, so they still see my mom and dad regularly."

"Do you wish you lived closer?"

"At times, I lived in Ottawa for a little bit, so I found I went home more often, but being back in Toronto…and with the job I have…it's harder, ya know?"

Gail nods her head. Gail decides to bring up a conversation she tried starting a few weeks ago, "so you're a middle child?"

Holly gives her a lop-sided grin and chuckles. "Yup. I have a brother about two years older and a sister about two years younger. We all look alike."

"What was it like growing up so close in age? I mean I have an older brother but he's five years older than me, I think for a few years when I was a young child he didn't mind playing with me but as soon as he became a teenager he didn't want to have anything to do with me…"

Holly processes the information and replies, "I enjoyed it, we were pretty much able to form our own basketball team, we would practice in our driveway regularaly, so you know we dominated on the court…" Holly smirks.

Gail laughs. "I bet you I could take on you and your family in basketball and win."

"What?! With those tiny arms?! I'd like to see that." Holly breaks into laughter.

"What, I could," protests Gail.

"Okay honey," Holly pats Gail on the arm.

* * *

Gail pulls back from Holly's lips desperately needing a breath of air. Holly takes the opportunity to place kisses along Gail's neck. "So, how does this work?" Gail can feel Holly hum in response. "You asked me out, now what?"

Holly places one last kiss on Gail's pulse before she pulls away and looks at Gail. "Well, I could plan a date or you could plan a date…"

"Since you asked me…"

Holly repeats herself with a chuckle, "I could plan a date."

Gail smiles, "what are we going to do?"

"What do you want to do?"

"You're planning the date."

Holly laughs again. "I saw in the newspaper that they're showing a movie in the park tonight, want to go to that? We can pack a cooler, use lawn chairs or a blanket…a movie under the stars…"

"Sounds good." Gail rolls her eyes as she says, "good thing you subscribed to the newspaper…"

"We need to set some ground rules for dates though."

"You're right, in order to maintain our cover, we can't really discuss too private of information out in public."

Holly agrees, "right. We can talk about basic everyday trivial things, but we can't divulge private information unless we are safe inside our home."

Gail nods her head and jokes, "so I can't bring the bowl of random questions?"

"No." Holly rolls her eyes.

* * *

Somewhere in Toronto, a group of shifty looking men meet inside a white van. "So what did we find?"

"Nothing. It doesn't even look as if she packed anything to take with her. I don't think she knew she was leaving."

"Damn, we missed our opportunity…"

"I'll say. Her computer's still there, her phone charger, and there's expired milk in the fridge."

"Eww…that's going to stink."

"It's like she dropped off the face of the Earth. Everything appears to be the way it would be if she were here."

"Huh…so you guys didn't find any indications that she has a secret apartment or cabin?" The men shake their heads. "Were you able to find an address book?" A man passes it over. The questioner starts to flip through it. "Maybe she's staying with her parents. Looks like we're going to Montreal."

"Wouldn't it be easier just to call? You know, make sure she's actually there."

"And say what on the phone? Hi it's Mike from Toronto and my boss wants me to kidnap your daughter, is she there? Come on…think." He smacks his companion on the back of his head.

* * *

Holly and Gail arrive at the park where they can see a tarp already set up to project the movie on. They unfold their lawn chairs next to each other with a nice distance away from the other movie goers. Less than a minute later Dorothy and Dan start to set up their chairs and a blanket for the kids to sit on next to Gail.

"Good evening ladies," says Dan. "Ready for movie night?"

"Yes," responds Gail. "Heather read about it in the newspaper and we decided we would come, make it our date night."

Dorothy winks at Gail, happy Gail took her advice. Dan laughs, "you subscribed to the newspaper? You know you can read it online for free."

"I know," says Holly, "I just prefer the hard copy," and she lowers her voice so only Gail can hear, "plus we really don't have a computer right now."

"So kids, hear anything good about this movie? What are we seeing anyways?" Gail tries to engage Dorothy and Dan's children.

'"Jaws!'" squeals the youngest, Eve.

Dorothy steps in, "yes but the deal was you could come to the start of the movie but nine o'clock is still bed time, so we will be leaving well before it gets…exciting." Dorothy says the last bit to Gail and Holly.

Gail smiles knowingly. "Oohh. I love 'Jaws', the first time I saw it I totally jumped!"

"Mrs. Gilbert are you a scaredy-cat?" teases Jonny, the eldest.

"Haha, no," Gail says seriously. "You can call me Gladys, by the way. I know this movie like the back of my hand, I bet you, you're going to jump."

"No, I'm tough," insists Jonny, putting on a false bravado, Tommy his younger brother laughs. "Nothing can scare me." Tommy laughs again.

"Okay," says Gail as she does a talking motion with her hand to the younger children, indicating he's all talk and the younger siblings snicker.

A few minutes later Jack and Erin set up their chairs next to Holly.

"Hello everyone," says Jack.

"Hey guys," says Dan. "Glad you could make it. They only show a couple of movies a summer, and it always seems the summer is gone before you know it, so it's nice to slow it down and enjoying a night in the park."

"Uh…yeah," responds Jack.

"Hey Dorothy," says Holly, "we finally finished unpacking, and we would love to have you guys over. How about some time this week?"

"Yeah that should work for us," says Dorothy as she looks at Dan who's nodding his head.

"That works for us too," chimes in Erin.

"Uh…" interrupts Gail. "We didn't..,"

Holly cuts her off, "sounds good. How about Friday?" Everyone choruses their agreement. "It's settled then, you can bring the kids, and if you have to leave early to put Eve to bed that's fine."

"Oh no…that's okay we'll have Jonny or Tommy stay with her and 'babysit.'" Dorothy smiles as her two oldest shoot her pained looks.

A man walks in front of the screen and addresses the audience, "tonight we will be showing 'Jaws' I see a few youngsters out there and parents, just a reminder this movie is rated PG-13, so you are showing this at your own risk, don't go complaining to council about it, this is after all the movie you guys voted for last year. Without further ado…" The man walks away and the movie begins to play on the big screen.

Gail picks up Holly's hand and threads their fingers together. Holly looks over at Gail and smiles.

* * *

Holly finds a folded up newspaper lying on the coffee table and sees Gail attempted to do the crossword. She smirks to herself, _look who likes the newspaper now?_ Holly notices the crossword isn't complete and goes to fill in the rest, "hey, you wrote in the wrong answers."

Gail ducks her head in from the kitchen. "Or did I find alternative answers?" she taps the side of her head indicating her brain.

"You're insane."

"Maybe I just wanted to make it more challenging for you…"

"Uh-huh…"

* * *

*ring* Gail is out delivering mail when she hears her phone ring. "Hello?"

"Hi Gail. How are you?"

"Good and you?"

"Can't complain," Gail laughs. "How are you settling in?"

"Fine, I'm actually out delivering mail as we speak."

"Don't burst into flames," Steve advises.

"I have sun screen on."

"Good. Good to hear you're being sensible…is it safe to talk freely?"

Gail takes a look around, she spots no one. "Yeah, what do you want?"

"I'm just calling to let you know that Holly's…shit," Gail can hear papers turning on the other end, "Heather's house got broken into."

"I know her name, idiot." Gail huffs. "Her house? Anything valuable taken?"

"That's just it, one of her neighbours called the police and said they saw a group of men enter her town house, so we went to check it out and everything appears to be left the same…"

"So they were looking for something."

"Mhmmm…so this is a heads up and a warning to be extremely vigilant. We don't know if you guys have been found yet or what…"

"Yeah. Okay." Gail pauses for a second. "How is everyone, how's Leo?"

"Good. Leo misses you. I told him you would be back soon and then you two can have a sleepover video game night."

"Not soon enough…how's the case going, did you figure out who blew my cover?"

"No not yet…we're working our hardest, we have sent someone else inside to finish the job you started…" Steve sighs.

"I know, it's okay…but when I see you at Christmas you better be ready for the wrath of Ga…" Gail stops herself, "Gladys." She can hear Steve snicker over the phone. "What's so funny? I want to laugh too."

Steve clears his throat, "uh...nothing. And who knows maybe you'll be home sooner than Christmas…"

"Okay, well the mail's not going to deliver itself, I have to go…"

"Yeah, me too. Stay safe Gail."

"You too."

* * *

Thanks for the holiday wishes

Happy holidays

Hope you have a wonderful rest of December and an even better January

Best of luck in 2019


	7. Chapter 7

This was Holly's third time trying to get pregnant. The first time she tried she wasn't expecting much, she knew the statistics, so she wasn't too surprised when her period came as normal. The second time she had more hope, she was all excited, but then she had spots in her underwear. She went back to the doctors and decided she was done for now, she knew the toll it was taking on her body and she didn't want to go through the disappointment again. But then she decided one last time before she stops, for good.

Holly was now in her third month of pregnancy and she couldn't be more pleased. Some days she feels bloated while other days she doesn't feel pregnant at all. The thoughts in Holly's head would not stop. _I'm going to need to go clothes shopping eventually, at least the seasons are changing so I'll have a reason to go if I haven't told Gladys yet…You need to tell her…I'm not sure if I'm ready…it doesn't matter, you need to tell her…only a few more weeks and I'll be out of my first trimester and it will be safe to tell Gladys and or others…you need to go for an ultra sound…I don't know if I want to go alone…you would have gone alone in Toronto…it's different now…is it?...isn't it?…_ The constant dialogue was troubling Holly. She couldn't make up her mind on what to do. She wants to wait until she's in her second trimester to tell Gladys she is pregnant, she knows she needs to go to the doctors to check on the baby, but she's worried. Of what? She's not sure.

Well she knows she's afraid of what Gladys will think. _Will this change their dynamic? How will she take the news? Has she unintentionally put them in danger?_ Holly decides she's going to start asking Gladys questions about children, see where she stands on the topic of kids.

Holly places a protective hand over her abdomen. She's happy, giddy really. She wanted to have a baby for so long and now she finally has the opportunity. Sure she and Amy were talking about taking the next step and starting a family, buy Holly could tell deep down Amy truly wasn't that interested. The last thing Holly wanted to do was to force someone into having a baby with her.

* * *

Holly and Gail are out grocery shopping. Holly steers them towards the baby aisle. "Ummm…Heather, the cash registers are over there…"

"I know Gladys," Holly smiles.

"We're going out of our way," Gail complains.

"You're a mail carrier, how are you complaining about walking?" Holly jokes. "We need to walk through an aisle, it doesn't matter which one we walk down."

"Yes, but we don't need anything down this aisle, we could have walked down the candy aisle," Gail grumbles.

Holly stops in front of the baby sized clothing, "look how small they are…"

"Very astute, Heather," Gail rolls her eyes, "I don't think any of these clothes will fit either of us. 'kay, let's go." Gail starts to push the shopping cart to the cash registers.

Holly sighs and trails behind Gail on their way to pay for their groceries, _being subtle isn't going to work_.

* * *

Holly's about to leave the library for the day. "Hey Heather got a second?"

Holly walks over to Ms. Dunn, "I think it went well today, don't you?"

"Yes, I'm very grateful for your help. I'm so happy we are able to run the camp again this year," says Ms. Dunn.

"I'm happy to help. You wanted something?"

"Yes…" Ms. Dunn looks a little nervous. "Could I ask you a personal question?" Holly nods her head. "Are you pregnant?"

"Why would you ask that?"asks a floundering Holly.

"You took out a book on being pregnant and…"

Holly not sure how much she can cover up asks, "how would you know if I have borrowed a book on pregnancy?"

"Well…" Ms. Dunn begins slowly, "someone came in looking for it and I brought them to the child care section, noticed it wasn't on the shelf, thought it was odd, so I went to check the computer and saw that you had checked it out…" Ms. Dunn pauses for a second to let Holly comprehend, "it also explains why you go to the washroom so often or why you always leave the room when a child has a particularly…aromatic…lunch."

Holly sighs. "Yes…I'm pregnant." Ms. Dunn has a huge smile on her face. "But you can't tell anyone. I haven't really told anyone yet."

"Anyone?" Holly nods her head solemnly. Ms. Dunn places a hand on Holly's shoulder, "it's all right, I'm sure you have your reasons…but if you ever want to talk about it, I'm always here."

"Thank you." Holly tells herself as well as Ms. Dunn. "I'm going to tell Gladys soon though." Holly thinks for a second. "We're having some people over on Friday night, why don't you come too?"

"May I ask who is coming?"

"Dorothy and Dan, and Jack and Erin, mine and Gladys' neighbours…"

"I'll have to take a rain check. How about some other time?"

"Umm…okay. Is there something wrong?"

"No, not really, just Dorothy rubs me the wrong way, I'm not sure why. She's perfectly pleasant, it's just I can't stand the woman."

"So best to avoid her…"

"Exactly. Thanks anyway. And I would enjoy getting to know you and Gladys better, why don't you two come over, sometime mid-afternoon next Sunday?"

"Okay. Let me just check with Gladys and I'll let you know on Wednesday?"

* * *

"Hey Gladys?" Holly smiles, "what are your thoughts on children? Do you some day want children of your own?"

Gail gives Holly a questioning look. "You do realize we are not actually married, right?"

Holly forces a laugh. "I know. I just wanted to know what you think about kids."

"Okay…well, kids are cool. Sometimes I prefer them to adults. Whether I want a child of my own, it depends who I'm with. It's definitely not a deal breaker if my partner doesn't want a kid. The other way is fine too. Or if my partner already has a kid, I will happily accept their kid as my own… In my job I have seen it first hand when a child feels they don't fit in, they just want to give love and be loved."

Holly nods her head and smiles.

"How about you?" Gail asks. "Do you want kids?"

"Yes."

* * *

Gail's out on her mail route when she has to drop some letters off at the school and library. She enters the library and sees a bunch of kids swarming Holly and decides not to bother. She walks over to Ms. Dunn who is behind the desk to deliver some mail. "Hi Gladys."

"Morning, how are you today."

A few kids' heads pop up from what they're doing and someone giggles and says, "Mrs. Gilbert, you have a visitor!" Holly looks up and sees a reddening Gail.

Ms. Dunn looks at Gail, "pleasures of living in a small town, everyone pretty much knows everybody even if you've never met before."

"Speaking of, we're having some people over on Friday, would you like to come?"

"Oh, Heather already invited me and I declined, but thanks for the offer."

Holly walks over as Gail nods her head, "it must have slipped her mind. You're forgetting things again, babe. Kind of like when you left the remote in the freezer." Gail laughs.

Holly smiles to herself at the term of endearment. "Silly me," Holly tries to brush it off. _Is pregnancy brain real?... I need to tell her._

Ms. Dunn looks back at Gail and smiles, "congratulations by the way!"

"For what?"

Ms. Dunn shoots Heather a look of surprise, "congrats on the… hair cut."

Gail instinctively touches her hair, "thanks?"

"It's a little kooky thing we do here in Moonbeam," Ms. Dunn laughs to herself nervously. "So can you two make it next weekend?"

Gail looks confused at Holly, "another thing she forgot to tell me about?"

Holly fills Gail in, "want to go to Ms. Dunn's house next Sunday afternoon?"

"There's someone I'd like you two to meet."

Holly and Gail have a quiet conference with a few nodding heads. Holly looks back at Ms. Dunn, "we'll be there!"

"I'm looking forward to it." Ms. Dunn beams.

A little girl calls, "Mrs. Gilbert! Timmy's making a mess!"

Holly gives a concerned look to Gail, "I gotta go!"

"See you at home." Gail leans in to give Holly a kiss on the cheek; the kids begin to giggle again.

* * *

"Can you pause the movie for a sec, I need to go pee." Holly jumps off the couch.

"Didn't you just go pee?" grumbles Gail.

"Yeah and I have to go again, problem?" Holly calls over her shoulder as she walks down the hallway.

"No" Gail sighs, "do you normally pee this much? You should probably get that checked out by a doctor." She hears the bathroom door shut and waits patiently, well as patiently as she can as her foot starts to tap, for Holly to return.

"I'm fine. Thanks for your concern," Holly says as she walks back into the room and sits back down, grabbing Gail's bowl of popcorn.

"Hey! That's mine! Did you already eat all of your dried seaweed chips you bought at the store?" Gail says as she tries to grab the bowl back.

"No there just in the kitchen, this is closer, plus sharing is caring," Holly smiles.

"I don't share," Gail says as she retrieves her bowl and shoves a handful of popcorn into her mouth, a few falling back into the bowl.

"Never mind, you can keep your popcorn."

"That's what I thought," says Gail with a full mouth.

"Push play, would you." Holly laughs.

A few minutes after the movie has restarted Gail sets the bowl between her and Holly on the couch.

* * *

After the movie is done, Gail flips the settings back over to tv and the ten o'clock evening news is on. Gail's sitting on the couch with her legs stretched out onto the coffee table with Holly curled into her side. Gail can't believe she has grown so close to Holly, it has definitely surprised her; normally it takes her a while to feel comfortable around someone. But with Holly, it feels as if they've known each other longer even though it's only been a dozen weeks or so. They watch the news in comfortable silence learning about what's going on in the world as they lounge on the couch together. Ten o'clock passes and the eleven o'clock Toronto news begins. They see a bunch of people flocking to the lake to try and stay cool in the summer heat wave, the news caster says, 'even the police can't stop the heat' Gail laughs as she sees Chris standing by his cruiser sipping a slushie.

"That wasn't even a clever line," says Holly.

Gail laughs again, "no, I know that guy, he's one of my roommates."

"Oh…" Holly rests her head on Gail's shoulder, yawns, and closes her eyes, "have you ever seen yourself on tv?"

"Once or twice…I'm actually fine missing the Toronto heat."

Holly hums in agreement. "I miss going to the lake and swimming though, having a beach day…" They fall into silence again fine following the day's big stories.

The newscaster switches topics to something else police related and begins to give a summary of something that happened and shows a press conference with a woman Gail knows.

Holly, who still has her eyes closed hears the woman begin to speak and immediately sits upright, "I can't stand that woman…I have only had to deal with her a couple of times, but she just" Holly grumbles something, "I'm going to bed," she leans down and gives Gail a kiss on the cheek before she says, "don't stay up too late, we have a big day tomorrow."

Gail nods her head as she watches Holly leave the room, Gail turns her attention back to the tv and says to herself, "what did you do to piss off Holly, mom?"

* * *

After the news Gail heads to bed, she sees that there's still a light on in the bedroom and walks in to see Holly reading in bed. Gail silently grabs her night wear, changes in the bathroom, returns to the bedroom where she slips into bed. "Goodnight." She turns off her bed side lamp and shuts her eyes.

"What are you doing?"

"Sleeping…"

"Where's my goodnight kiss?" Holly asks.

Gail turns over so she's facing Holly, "it's right here," as she points to her lips.

Holly smiles and creeps closer to Gail where she pecks her on the lips, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Gail smiles. "I enjoyed our movie night."

"Me too," Holly reaches behind her to turn off the lamp. "I need to tell you something…" Holly starts. "But I'm not sure…" Holly is still internally debating with herself. "I'll tell you the day after tomorrow."

"You sure you don't want to tell me now? You'll sleep better…you've been tossing and turning the past couple of nights…you don't normally settle down until I'm holding you…"

Holly hums for a second, still worried how Gail's going to react. "No, I'd rather tell you later."

Gail's silent for a second, hoping Holly will reverse her decision. "Okay," Gail leans over and gives Holly one more kiss, "goodnight Holly."

* * *

The following day Dorothy knocks on the door. Holly answers it and welcomes Dorothy into their home. Gail's sitting on the couch, reading the newspaper, Dorothy and Holly walk into the room. Dorothy says, "you two are from the city aren't you?"

Gail looks over at a worried Holly. "What makes you say that?"

"I can just tell."

Gail not sure where this is going asks, "how can you 'tell'?"

"You two lock your door. Most folks around here don't. I tried to open your door, but it was locked. I go to any of the other neighbours' houses you give a courtesy knock but then you open the door and let yourself in." Dorothy explains.

Gail bursts into laughter, Holly smiles at her, and Dorothy looks at her concerned, "what's so funny?"

"She had a rough day at work…" Holly lies. Dorothy nods her head. Dan, Jack, and Erin follow after Dorothy into the house. Both Holly and Gail are relieved that the situation didn't turn into something else.

* * *

Holly gives a brief tour of the main floor so the guests can find the bathroom. They're all standing in the kitchen discussing how beautiful the day is, Dorothy says the kids are next door swimming but they are to come here after. Holly invites everyone to go into the back yard, while they wait for the children to join them for dinner. Dan excuses himself to use the bathroom. Jack steps out onto the deck and marvels at the vegetable garden, "Erin, come see their vegetable patch." Jack takes off to see what's in the garden.

Gail looks around and doesn't see Erin anywhere. Gail ducks her head into the family room and sees Erin walking up the stairs; she follows a few seconds later. Gail quietly walks up the stairs not to alert Erin, so she can see what Erin's doing. Gail finds her in the master bedroom, "what are you doing?"

Erin turns around in shock, "the bathroom was in use, and I really had to go… so I figured I'd come find another one."

"Uh-huh, well my bedroom is not a bathroom; and I don't keep a chamber pot in here, go back downstairs." Gail and Erin are at the top of the landing when Dorothy emerges from the guest bathroom, "see Erin," Gail points, "that's what a bathroom looks like."

Erin rolls her eyes, "I know what a washroom looks like _Gladys,_ it's just all the facilities were in use…" Erin grumbles.

* * *

Gail leaves Holly inside with Erin and joins the rest of the guests out back. "Congrats on the haircut Dan!"

"What a weird thing to say Gladys…" Dan gives her a quizzical look, as he subconsciously touches his hair.

"I thought that…never mind…" Gail scrunches up her face. "I'm going to need another haircut soon Dorothy. Cut out the rest of this blonde."

"Why, has Mrs. Crane been bothering you again?" Dorothy asks as Holly and Erin join the group.

"NO, however she did say that if I cut my hair really short it will look as if I have frosted tips."

Jack laughs, "you should try to bring back frosted tips."

Holly steps in, "no you shouldn't."

"I don't know Gladys, you still haven't paid off your last hair cut…speaking of, Dan and I are going away for a couple of days, his parents are able to watch the first day and stay over that night but they have a prior engagement the day we come home, would you mind watching the little rug rats next Saturday?"

"Sure, I have the weekends off, so that shouldn't be a problem."

"Great, we'll be back sometime after six, so you'll have to feed them lunch and dinner."

"No problem, kids love me," Gail says confidently.

Dorothy looks at Holly, "you'll help her wont you Heather? Sometimes the kids can be a real handful."

"Of course" Holly agrees. Just then the kids enter the backyard. "Perfect timing, dinner is almost done, help me for a second honey." Holly pats Gail on the shoulder as she goes inside to finish up the food.

* * *

It was an early night, Dan and Dorothy took the kids home around nine and Jack and Erin followed shortly after. Holly goes into the spare room / make shift office to write down some notes about future activities for her upcoming science classes or for the summer camp.

"GLADYS!" Holly yells. "What did you do?" Gail runs up the stairs to see what's the matter. "Why did you move everything? I had everything organized for me…" she picks up random pieces of paper and looks them over trying to reorganize her desk.

"I didn't do this. I barely come in here. I know how important the summer camp is to you and I wouldn't dare messing up your notes," Gail says with sadness on her face, hurt that she's being accused of doing something she didn't do.

Holly looks up, recognizing the sadness in Gail's voice and sees the anguish on her face. "Okay, I believe…but who would have done this," Holly looks behind her and says, "the window's not open so it wasn't the wind…and you and I are the only two people who live here…"

Gail's eye bulge open, "I saw Erin upstairs coming from our bedroom…maybe she was looking for something…" Gail immediately moves towards the filing cabinet where she grabs a hidden key and takes it to the master bedroom where she pulls what looks like a book off the shelf, she unlocks the book/lock box and quickly makes sure the documents are safe. She turns around to a nervous Holly, "it's all here." They both let out a sigh of relief. Gail instinctively wraps her arms around Holly who still a little shocked, "it's okay" she whispers.

* * *

Both Gail and Holly were slow starting their weekend, having someone rifle through your stuff is never a pleasant feeling, even if they didn't find anything. Gail eventually got out of bed around 10 and left Holly dozing. Although this is a new experience for Gail too, having to drop everything to hide away for her safety, she feels terrible for Holly because as a police officer you know it could be a possibility, but normally when you become a doctor, you don't normally think you will ever have to go into hiding. Gail decides she's going to plan something nice for her and Holly. She grabs the map of the area she picked up at the convenience store when they first got to the area, memorizing routes to escape in case something ever threatened them. Gail was looking for something else though; Gail trails her eyes all over the map to figure out what exactly she wants to do.

Holly eventually enters the kitchen, Gail tucks the map away, "how you feelin'?"

"I've felt better…" Holly sighs, "two months down, four to go." Holly opens her arms; Gail automatically walks over and gives Holly a hug. "What have you been doing?" Holly sees the map out, "did you get a new mail route? Or reviewing your exit strategy?"

"Neither of those things…it's a surprise," Gail smiles.

"I like surprises…"

* * *

They spend the rest of day taking it easy. Holly straightens up the desk, reads her book outside, takes a nap, and joins Gail playing some video game. After leftovers from the night before, Gail looks at the clock on the microwave and sees out the window that the sun is going to set soon. Gail looks at Holly, "how tired are you feeling?"

"What do you mean," asks a defensive Holly, afraid that Gail's noticed how easily tired Holly has started to get now that she's caring another life. "Why would I be tired…I mean it is close to night…so it would be normal for me to be tired…" Holly's rambling, hoping to steer Gail away from whatever train of thought she's on.

"Relax nerd, I was just wondering if you wanted to go for a walk or not…"

"Oh," says a relieved Holly. "A walk sounds nice."

"'k, let's go," Gail leans over the table to give Holly a quick kiss on the lips, "you're cute when you ramble." Holly blushes. Gail leaves the kitchen and grabs a few things before she has her hand on the door knob, "are you coming?" she calls to Holly.

Holly quickly readies herself before she joins Gail by the front door. They step out onto the front porch, hand in hand, and start to walk down the steps and onto the road. "Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise," shares Gail.

"Ah," smiles Holly.

They walk through the town and out into a field, they walk to a body of water. Gail stops and says, "we're here." Gail shifts her weight from side to side as she nervously says, "I know it's not exactly a lake, and we should definitely not go swimming in there, but I figured close enough…"

"It's perfect…thank you Gladys," Holly smiles. "It's a great way to finish off the day…"

"I'm glad you like it," Gail takes the blanket she brought and spreads it out for her and Holly to sit on and enjoy the reflection of the pink and blue sky in the lake. "I overheard someone talking the other day, how on clear days this patch of water can act as a mirror and reflects the sky. I was also wondering what it would look like at night with the stars."

Holly sits down and says, "I've got time, let's wait and see." Gail joins her on the blanket as they sit in silence marveling at the incredible colours they are witnessing around them.

* * *

Gail had them walk far enough out so the town's lights wouldn't affect their night star watching, so when day turned to night and the stars started to sparkle, it took their breath away. "That's incredible."

"Yeah," says a speechless Gail. "I haven't really been star gazing since I was a child…every summer after we finished another year of schooling, my parents would take my brother and I to our grandparent's cottage, they would stay with us for the first week, but then my brother and I would be left in our grandparents' care. They had a large cottage that backed onto a lake and pretty much every night we would all end up on the dock or deck lying on our backs looking up at the sky…" Gail lays down trying to somewhat recreate a memory. Holly follows suit. "You can't really do this in the city…too much light…wow…"

Holly snakes her hand over to Gail's to give it a squeeze. When she goes to release Gail's hand Holly realizes Gail's holding on tight, not willing to let go.

* * *

They walk back home, once inside Gail faces Holly, "I need to tell you something."

"I need to tell you something too…" Holly smiles.

Gail continues, "I don't want to ruin our night, but since something similar happened last night, now is the time to tell you…the other day a group of men broke into your town house," Holly gasps, "nothing was taken, a neighbor called it in, they said they saw some men enter your house but by the time the police arrived they were long gone…"

"Shit. What am I supposed to do about this, what are the police going to do about this…" Holly demands.

"That's all I know, they broke in clearly looking for you, didn't find you, and left. Nothing was taken; your computer and tv were still there along with your jewelry box and various other valuable items…"

"Well this fucking sucks," fumes Holly.

"It's okay, that's why we're here, imagine how much worse this would have been if you were at home…" Gail's not entirely sure how to comfort Holly so she keeps talking, "the police are doing their best to track down the guys, the neighbour was able to get a good description of a few of them, so now they have a couple of leads as to who wants to harm you."

Holly has completely shut down, "what does this mean? What's our next move?"

"What do you mean? We can't really do anything; we have to lay low here for now until everything has settled down in Toronto and it's safe for us to return."

"So we just stay here and wait?" questions Holly.

"Yeah," says a surprised Gail, "what else would we do…" this was not how Gail thought Holly would react, she's not sure what she was expecting, but she certainly wasn't expecting this. Holly begins to pace, "why don't you sit down," suggests Gail. "You need to calm down…"

Holly catches a worried expression on Gail's face and stops on the spot; she instinctively places a hand over her belly and rubs soothing circles. She walks over to the couch and sits down. Gail tentatively follows and sits on the coffee table. Gail sits across from Holly and looks her in the eyes, "we are going to get through this, whatever you need I will help, anything, you name it, we are in this together."

Holly breathes in a few deep breathes to control her rapid breathing. She nods her head in acknowledgement of what Gail just said. Gail waits for Holly to calm down and process all the information. Gail picks up Holly's hands and begins, "you had something to tell me…"

Holly nods her head; _I need to tell her, she has to know. Is now the right time though?_ Holly looks at their joined hands and back up at Gail, with no preamble she says, "I'm pregnant."

A slight look of surprise crosses Gail's face before she schools her expression back to normal, "how far along are you?"

"I will officially be out of my first trimester next week, so I'm currently 13 weeks pregnant…"

"My lucky number," jokes Gail, trying to take some pressure off of Holly. Gail turns serious, back to cop mode, "when did you find out?"

"Shortly after we got here."

"Congratulations."

"Thanks," smiles Holly as she takes her hands out of Gail's and places them on her belly.

"Well this changes everything," a look of hurt paints Holly's face, "I'm no longer protecting one life, I'm protecting two."

Holly looks at Gail shocked, "you're okay with this?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I be? I mean it makes my job a little harder, but I'm sure you had your reasons for wanting to get pregnant…" Holly nods her head. Gail takes her hands again, "let's go to bed, we've had a long couple of days." Holly nods her head again.


	8. Chapter 8

i deleted some stuff from last chapter, mainly the happy ending

* * *

Gail dropped mail off at the library Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. By Friday Holly knew the pattern, Gail enters the library, tries to strike up some conversation with Ms. Dunn (usually about the weather), does a quick look around, spends a few minutes with the kids, checks in with Holly-sees how she's feeling, and leaves to continue her route. On Friday, Holly has a plan of her own; she hasn't felt this un-trusted since high school when she unintentionally stayed out past curfew reading at the library. Holly always considered herself an intelligent, safe, reliable person, and whatever Gladys' reasons for constantly coming by the library were was starting to bother Holly.

Gail enters the library, drops off the mail with Ms. Dunn and mentions how the temperature is starting to get cooler. Gail starts to do her make shift sweep of the library before she stands over the kids seeing what they're up to today. She accepts the offered marker that Eve, Dorothy and Dan's daughter, holds out to her, and helps to colour a picture. She listens intently to whatever Eve is telling her before Holly calls to her, "Gladys?" Gail lifts her head, "got a second?"

"See you tomorrow kid…" Gail ruffles Eve's hair before she walks over to Holly. "Hey."

"Hey. What are you doing here?"

"Just delivering some mail…"

"Did your route change or…because previously Keith always delivered the mail here…"

"Oh, I told him I could help him with his route, you know so he could get home sooner and help Stacey. After she took that spill and broke her arm, she just needs a little extra help…"

"So you're not checking in on me?"

"…um…" Gail stumbles, desperately trying to come up with a response. Of course she's checking in on Holly, with everything that's happened lately…between the break in at Holly's townhouse, the potential snooping in their study, and the fact that Holly's pregnant…she wants to make sure Holly is safe.

"Come here," Holly grabs Gail's hand and pulls her into the storage room, away from little ears. "You coming by is very sweet and all, but you have to let me be out on my own sometimes," Holly holds up her hand to stop Gail from saying whatever she was about to say, "people are going to start getting suspicious as to why you are always coming to see me…," Holly holds up her hand again to stop Gail, "yes, yes, when they find out about the pregnancy people are going to be a little more lenient, but for now let's go back to the way it was the week before, you coming to see me occasionally…" there's a look of sadness in Gail's eyes. Holly catches a glimpse of it before it's gone; Gail has schooled her expression to show no emotions. This worries Holly completely. She hopes she hasn't done anything rash, although they've known each other for a few months and have told each other lots of snippets from their lives she's not entirely sure what she said that has made Gail shut down. Holly hopes to reverse whatever mistake she's made and right her wrongs "that's not what I meant…," she strings her arms around Gail's waist and pulls her in closer. She can feel Gail stiffen at Holly's gesture and recoil from her touch. Holly doesn't know what to do…she allows the silence to encompass them. "Please don't do that cat in a tree thing you were trying to explain to me the other day. Of course I like that you're worried about me, but we need to keep up appearances, we need some space…" Gail still isn't responding. Holly's desperate, she likes Gail, like really likes Gail, and she doesn't want to mess this thing up between them. She tries again. "You know I enjoy having you around."

Still no expression on Gail's face, "I understand, I wont check on you again…I just thought with the other day…the two break-ins…I …never mind…"

"You what?" asks Holly, finally happy for some sort of dialogue.

*beep* Gail's phone chimes. "I have to go; I'm to meet Keith at Mrs. Crane's today after the library, something about a two person job." Gail tries to wriggle out of Holly's arms.

"Please don't be upset."

"I'm not upset, you need your space, I understand."

Holly sighs, she reluctantly releases Gail. "We'll talk more when we are at home." Gail gives a wave as she exits the storage room.

* * *

Holly gets home from the library and can't find Gail in the house. She looks out the kitchen window and sees Gail in the backyard working in the vegetable garden. Holly debates whether or not to join her. She can clearly see the strain in Gail's body, the way her head bobs as if she's having a conversation with herself. Holly steps away from the window and decides not to go out to Gail just yet. Instead she makes cookies, who can be upset with freshly baked cookies…

* * *

Gail enters the kitchen later. "Having fun out there?" Gail grunts in acknowledgment. "I was thinking of making pancakes for dinner, you interested?"

"Yeah, that's fine."

Holly still not sure how to change Gail's attitude, "I made cookies…"

"I prefer doughnuts…" Gail smiles snidely. "I'm going to go shower."

Holly sighs again as Gail leaves the room. She rests her head in her hands. _What am I to do?_

* * *

Gail's upset. She's not sure why. She was only doing her job, she should be checking in on Holly. And it's not like Holly's using a cell phone anymore, so she has to go to her in person in order to check on her. Maybe Gail can convince Holly to use her phone again.

Gail finishes cleaning up and stands at the top of the stairs. She can smell the sweet scent of cookies as well as the vanilla in the pancake batter. She sighs; maybe she's being too hard on Holly. She walks down the stairs and into the kitchen. Holly's back is to her as she works at the stove. Gail sits at the table and starts to flip through that day's paper. Holly turns around as she hears the paper rustle. "Hey."

"Hey." Gail replies without taking her eyes off of the paper.

Holly turns back to the stove and flips some pancakes. Holly finishes their dinner and places the plate of pancakes on the table. She grabs the maple syrup, plates, and cutlery before she sits down. _Well this is awkward. We haven't had this kind of awkward silence since the first few days we met._ Holly has an idea. She grabs the bowl of random questions and pulls a slip. She reads aloud, "have you ever solved a Rubik's cube?"

Gail looks up from the newspaper and sees the pancakes on the table and Holly staring at her with a nervous smile on her face. "Pardon?"

"Have you ever solved a Rubik's cube?"

Gail shakes her head, "no, my brother had one, but he kind of destroyed…he got frustrated and peeled off all the stickers and matched the colours that way. But whenever you went to use it after that various stickers would fall off…you?"

"My brother took a hammer to mine; he was apparently annoyed with the constant clacking noise it makes when you spin it."

"So you didn't solve it?"

"I was so close, but no."

"Too bad." Gail takes a few pancakes and starts to eat them. She turns back to the newspaper and continues to read it. Holly sighs again; she picks up her plate and walks into the living room. She grabs the remote to turn on the tv and sits on the couch, content to have some sort of distraction.

Gail finishes her dinner and notices Holly has left the kitchen; she hears the tv on but doesn't want to disturb Holly. She understands Holly is trying to be nice to Gail, but Gail's hurt. She feels Holly is pushing her away, and she has had her fair share of knowing what comes next. Gail feels as if her and Holly's relationship just began but it is already ending. Gail internally curses herself, _rule number one when being undercover, never fall for your partner._ Gail sighs, _rookie mistake._ Gail collects all the dirty dishes and places them on the counter; she grabs the dish soap and starts cleaning up the kitchen.

Holly can hear the noises from the kitchen, she wonders if she should help Gail with the clean up, but once again decides against it. She continues to watch some sort of investigation show about Machu Picchu, _why build on such a high cliff? Stay tuned to find out. Don't mind if I do_. She flips over to the weather station and sees that there is a storm south of them, the weather forecaster says, "the wind is blowing the storm northward so we may see some rain over night." _Just what I need,_ Holly thinks.

Gail finishes up in the kitchen and sees the plate of cookies on the counter and grabs one. She bites into it and hums. With a smile on her face she thinks, _oatmeal_ c _hocolate chip, my favourite._ She picks up the plate and joins Holly in the other room on the couch. They sit in silence watching tv and eating cookies.

Sometime later Holly gets up and stretches, "I'm ready for bed. You coming?" She looks at Gail.

"No. I'm going to stay up a little while longer."

"…okay. Don't forget we're watching Dan and Dorothy's kids tomorrow morning."

"I know." Gail stretches herself out onto the couch as Holly heads to the stairs.

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

* * *

Gail wakes up in the middle of the night when she hears a crash. She sits upright and realizes she fell asleep on the couch, but somehow the tv got turned off and there is a blanket covering her. _Holly,_ she thinks. Gail lies back down and debates whether she should go upstairs to sleep or just stay down here on the couch. *crash* Lightning illuminates the room. She sits upright again, _Holly._

Gail enters the master bedroom and can hear Holly whimpering. Gail slides into bed and gently rubs circles on Holly's back, "it's okay," she says soothingly.

Holly turns around to face Gail, "I'm sorry."

"No, I'm sorry. I was overreacting. You're completely right; me showing up all the time would begin to look suspicious."

Holly shakes her head, "you were just doing your job, looking out for me."

"You were trying to be so nice to me but I was being a brat and was pushing you away. I'm sorry…"

"It's okay," Holly scoots in closer to Gail looking for some protection from the storm. Gail wraps her arms around Holly and pulls her in closer. "I truly am sorry too; I shouldn't tell you how to do your job."

"It's okay," Gail places a kiss on Holly's head. They both let out a contented sigh. "On the bright side," Gail breaks the silence, "the vegetable garden has been tended to." Holly lets out a breathy laugh. Gail continues, "the beans appear to be just about done for the season, we should get one more pick out of them, the squash are growing nicely, I don't think the cucumbers are going to amount to anything," Gail fills their bedroom with her account of the garden to take Holly's mind off of the storm. Once Gail is done they lay in silence listening to the storm pass and hearing a steady fall of rain on the roof.

"Thank you," Holly whispers.

* * *

At the table the next day, Holly is impatiently twirling her mug around. Gail finally looks up from her cereal bowl between bites she asks, "something on your mind?"

Not sure how to broach the subject Holly says, "we need to talk about yesterday."

Gail slurps up the rest of her breakfast and pushes the bowl away, "sure." Fearing the worst, Gail puts on an impassive face.

"Yesterday you shut down on me and…I can't deal with that, I don't want to deal with that, I shouldn't have to deal with that. We had a disagreement and your solution was to essentially ice me out. That may have worked for you in the past in previous relationships, but that wont work for us."

"For us?" Gail asks.

"Yes," Holly has a question mark on her face. "We live together, whether we are a couple or not. I'd rather stay a couple though because I really like you. This may not have been the most conventional way to have met, but we met, and..."

Gail leans across the table, grabs Holly's face and passionately kisses her. Holly can't believe it; she's never felt this way about anyone before. She has also never been kissed like this before, the amount of feelings that Gail conveys into the kiss to the way Gail gently holds her face, Holly is left a little light headed. Gail slows down the kiss and leans her forehead on Holly's, "I really like you too."

A huge smile spreads across Holly's face, "I know."

"Good." Gail smiles happily.

* * *

They walk over to Dan and Dorothy's hand in hand a little while later. "How are you feeling today?" asks Gail.

"Pretty good…" Holly's not sure how much to share, but decides to go for it, "my morning sickness should stop soon, hopefully, which I'm grateful for."

"I can't believe you were able to hide that for so long," Gail marvels.

Holly smiles to herself, "it helps with you leaving before me, however Ms. Dunn found out I'm pregnant."

"Yeah, I figured that the other day."

Holly gives a weak smile, "sorry about that."

"That's okay; it's your news to share," Gail assures.

"I didn't tell her, she found out because I borrowed a book from the library," Holly shakes her head.

"Speaking of, would you mind if I read that book next. I saw it on your bedside table the other day and I keep forgetting to ask to borrow it."

"You want to read my pregnancy book?"

"Yeah, you're having a baby and I want to help anyway I can."

"You do?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?"

"…" Holly thinks to delve into her past, but decides now's not the time as they walk up Dan's driveway. "Do you really mean it; you'll help me with anything?" Gail nods her head. "I have my first ultra sound next week, would you go with me?"

Gail lifts Holly's hand up to her mouth and kisses her knuckles, "of course."

* * *

Holly knocks on the door and a lady who appears to be in her 70s answers, "you must be the Gilberts. Please come on in." They walk into the house. "The kids are just out back with their grandfather, they've had breakfast, we've sun screened them up, I don't think there's anything else I need to tell you. Dorothy and Dan will be back around 5 tonight." All three walk out back to see the grandfather being chased by the kids, all five laughing. The grandmother shakes her head. "If you need anything our number's on the fridge, we're supposed to be going to our friends house for a bridge game, so feel free to call." She yells, "Jim! Time to go! Kids come say hello to the Gilberts and goodbye to grandma and grandpa."

Minutes later, after a lot of hugging and kissing, Holly and Gail are left alone with the four kids. Gail looks at the kids, "what are we going to do today?"

All the kids answer at once, "go swimming." "Play 'sorry.'" "Watch a movie." "Colour."

Gail looks at Holly and mouths, 'help.'

"While it's still nice out, why don't we go swimming?" Holly asks Gail, who nods her head. "Do we need lunch first, or pack a lunch?"

"PICNIC!" all the kids cheer. "Can we go to the lake then?"

"Wont that be cold?" asks Gail.

"You afraid of being cold?" asks Jonny. "Or are you afraid Jaws will be in our fresh water lake?"

"Ha ha. No. Let's go. Everyone get your swimsuits on." The kids cheer and run to their rooms to get changed.

* * *

After stopping at Holly and Gail's house to get supplies and let the women change, the six file into Gail's SUV and head to the lake. The kids immediately run to the water as soon as they are out of the car. They dip their toes in and jump back surprised at how cold the water is becoming.

Tommy runs back to Holly and Gail, "we were here at the start of summer, and we had so much fun. There were so many people here, and the water was so warm. Now it's cold!" He fake shivers.

"That's how the seasons work," Gail joins the other children at the edge of the water to test it for herself. "Shit," she mumbles. "That is a little chilly," she agrees. "That's okay, we brought shovels and pails, let's build a sandcastle."

"Okay," the kids eagerly agree. After building a few sand structures the kids ask, "Gladys, can we bury you in the sand? Please."

Gail kind of shrugs her shoulders, "why not." She walks over to the beach blanket where Holly is standing and the kids rush to the water to clean off their tools.

"You don't have to get buried, I'm sure we can think of something else to do."

Gail starts to unbutton her shorts and take them off. Holly stares at Gail's toned legs. "It's okay, I want to." Gail smiles, as she notices Holly is staring. Gail pulls her t-shirt off over her head.

Holly lets out a "whoa." Holly has a perfect view of Gail's toned stomach and a sky blue bikini that matches her skin tone perfectly. Holly knows she is staring, but she can't help herself. Holly's eyes trail up Gail's body where she sees a smirk on Gail's face.

"See something you like?" Gail takes a step closer to Holly.

Holly tries to clear her head as she looks past Gail and says, "Sure," she points to the kids playing along the water's edge, "the kids are playing nicely." Gail raises an eyebrow. Holly sounds nervous as she says, "I'm going to…" clears throat, "go to the bathroom."

"You do that," Gail winks.

Holly blushes, "not that!" _She wouldn't…would she? Ugh…stupid hormones…_

After a fun filled day at the lake, building sand structures and burying Gail in the sand, attempting to go in the water, a picnic, everyone was ready to return home.

"What are we going to do now?" the kids ask.

"We can watch a movie."

"I still want to colour," Tommy whines.

"We can watch a movie and colour."

A huge smile appears on Tommy's little face. Jonny helps set up the movie on the tv. Gail pulls Holly into the kitchen, "mind if I go home for a bit to shower. I need to get all the sand out of the nooks and crannies."

Holly laughs, "go ahead, I should be able to handle this." As they look into the family room and see three kids sitting on the couch eyes glued to the tv, and Tommy sitting on the floor waiting for someone to colour with him.

After the quiet time with the movie the kids were ready to play again. Holly ushers them outside as she stays inside tidying up the family room. She looks out the window and sees Gail being chased by the kids, as she dodges trees and makes quick turns hoping to throw them off. Holly smiles to herself at the scene, as she opens the door to join them.

There's noise in the driveway, Jonny goes to open the gate and reveals his parents arriving home.

* * *

Somewhere in Montreal, blue and red lights are flashing in front of a house in suburbia. A middle aged couple is talking to a police officer. "No officer, as soon as we saw our house was rooted through we called the police."

"Did you notice anything out of place while you were in there waiting for us?"

"No," says the lady. "A lot of our drawers were turned upside down and our closets were clearly looked through, our coats and other items are thrown across the floor. This is going to be a heck of a mess to clean up."

"It's okay, Joyce. We don't have to do it tonight," the man assures.

* * *

"You guys want to stay for dinner? We picked up some hamburgers we're going to grill."

Holly turns to look at Gail. Before either can respond, Eve waltzes up and grabs Gail's hand, "yeah they'll stay. We're not done playing yet". Eve proceeds to pull Gail to a table where they can continue to colour.

Holly and Dorothy laugh as they follow them. Dorothy asks, "would you two like a cocktail?"

Holly turns to Gail for some sort of help, should she tell Dorothy she's pregnant, what's the big deal if one more person knows… "Sure," Holly says.

"Three cocktails coming up." Dorothy walks back into the house.

Holly turns to Eve, "would you mind getting me a glass of water?"

"Can we finally play 'sorry'?"

"Yes."

"Then yes," Eve quickly gets out of her spot and rushes inside for the game and the drink.

Holly turns to Gail, "sorry."

"No need to apologize, you'll tell people when you're ready. Looks like I'll be drinking for two this evening."

Dorothy and Eve reappear. Dorothy passes out the drinks. Holly sets hers down next to Gail's so she can covertly drink from it easier.

* * *

"We are actually going to put you in a hotel tonight so we can get forensics in here to see if we can find anything." The officer informs.

"Can we stay at our son's, he lives close by and I'd be more comfortable staying there," asks Joyce.

"It's entirely up to you guys, but we will probably have someone stationed outside in case they were targeting you."

"I can't see why they'd be interested in us. I'm a high end clothing salesman and my wife is a secretary at the local grade school."

"Has anyone at either of your jobs made any complaints about you?" presses the officer.

Both shake their heads. "No, we have very safe jobs. Who would want to harm either of us?"

"It's okay Charlie." Joyce takes his hand and gives it a squeeze.

"Just a few more questions and I'll let you guys go inside and grab some clothes so you can go to your son's. Has anything changed recently?"

The two think for a second, Joyce answers, "no not really. We recently received a letter from our daughter, something about she went away for a bit for work, but that she's safe. There wasn't much in the letter, it was rather vague. Totally different from what she's normally like."

"Why didn't she just call? Why did she send a letter?"

"We don't know, and when we try to call her there's never an answer."

"That's definitely strange," decides the officer. "I can't think of anything else, but if you do, here's my card and feel free to call me. Thank you for being so cooperative Mr. and Mrs. Stewart."

Joyce and Charlie nod their heads and make their way into their house to grab an overnight bag.

* * *

After four beers at dinner, supposedly two each, Gail actually only drank two and a bit because someone accidentally spilled their drinks, Gail is now on her seventh/fifth and eighth/sixth drink of the evening, luckily for her it's a nightcap. The adults are sitting on the back deck; Dorothy and Dan are giving the highlights of their two day trip. Holly comes back from reading a night time story to the kids and helping tuck them into bed. Holly's about to walk past Gail when she gets pulled into Gail's lap. "What are you doing?" Holly asks.

"This way your drink is closer."

"Is that all?" Holly smiles starting to see a glossy look over Gail's eyes.

"This way you're closer," Gail confesses. Gail's hand sneaks under Holly's shirt and begins to trace patterns on Holly's skin.

"So how long have you and Gladys been married?"

Holly shoots a 'pay attention' look at Gail. "Not that long."

Dorothy smiles at Gladys and Heather sharing a chair. "Who proposed?"

Holly smiles and looks at Gail. "Would you like to tell the story?"

"No you go ahead."

"But you tell it so much better than I do." Gail smirks at Holly, realizing she's been played. "How about you get started and I'll jump in when I want to add something."

"Fine. So we had been together for…what?" She looks at Holly, "close to a year by then?" Holly simply nods her head and smiles. "I had bought a ring maybe two months previously and was just waiting for the perfect time. Her birthday was coming up and I thought, maybe I'll propose on her birthday," Dorothy gasps and clutches her hands together, Gail takes a sip of Holly's drink, "but then I figured that was too cheesy. Anyways, weeks pass and months pass and by that point I brought the ring with me everywhere. We were out at a restaurant and I thought I'd slip it into her food," Dorothy gasps again, "but once again too cheesy. So I just sat there, enjoying her company like I always do. Then, she drops her napkin and I bent down to pick it up, and I was like I'm already on the ground, I could just whip out the ring and ask her to marry me now." Dorothy once again gasps, Gail takes a sip from her own drink, "But, I didn't. So we paid our bill and headed outside. It was a beautiful night so we went for a walk and we sat at a park bench people watching. She was talking about some shenanigans that happened that day at school, going on and on about how the kids really enjoyed the science experiment and I just looked at her and said, 'marry me.' The rest I guess is history." Gail smiles.

Holly loops her arms around Gail's shoulders and places a kiss to her cheek. Dorothy smiles at the two. "That's a very sweet story. One day Dan came home from work and said 'here I got you something' and it was an engagement ring." Dorothy laughs. "No fuss no muss. That's us."

Gail smiles. "I would have done that too, but this one over here had expectations."

Holly finally speaks up, "Yes, I expected you to propose to me." She gives Gail a lopsided grin. "And you did a wonderful job."

"Aww…" Dorothy says. She looks at her drink and notices it's empty, "want another?"

"No, we should get going." Holly gets off of Gail and helps pull Gail up. "Thanks for dinner. We should do this again."

"Thank you," says a smiling Dorothy. "The kids definitely had fun today, I'm sure we'll hear all about it again tomorrow."

* * *

"Don't forget, we're supposed to be going to Ms. Dunn's tomorrow," Holly reminds Gail as they walk through the front door.

"Ms. Dunn…Mizz Dunn…MizzDunn…whoa" Gail gasps, "Ms. Dunn sounds like wisdom…"

"Okay sweetie, let's get you to bed."

"Okay," says a very agreeable Gail. Holly takes her hand and leads her up the stairs.

After getting ready for bed, Gail flops onto her back, shaking the whole bed. Holly appears at the bathroom door brushing her teeth, "whatcha doin'"

"Nothing," Gail says nonchalantly, "just trying to find the perfect spot." Gail settles down and lies under the covers.

Holly slips in next to her, "did you have fun today?"

"I did," Gail wriggles her way closer to Holly. "Did you?"

"I did too." Holly yawns. "I'm tired. Goodnight." She gives Gail a quick kiss and turns over on her side.

Gail follows Holly and spoons her. She lowers her head to Holly's ear, "I'm not ready to sleep yet." She slips her hand under Holly's top and kisses along Holly's neck. Holly turns over so she's laying on her other side facing Gail. She knows they can't go beyond making out tonight, as Gail's hand travels further up Holly's night shirt. Gail pulls away from Holly's neck to attach their lips together. Holly can already feel Gail's tongue seeking entrance which Holly eagerly allows. Neither seeking dominance, both just testing the waters. Holly places her hand on Gail's waist. Gail hand finds Holly's boob and gives it a light squeeze, Holly releases a moan. Holly's eyes shoot open and she pulls back from Gail. "We need to stop."

"I know." Gail places one last kiss on Holly's lips before she says, "now's not the time when I am a little bit drunk. Plus, when we do have sex I want to remember it."

Holly smiles at Gail. She takes Gail's hand and turns around to make Gail into the big spoon. Gail's about to slip her hand under Holly's top again, but Holly grabs it and threads their fingers together. She brings their joined hands to rest under chin.

* * *

Gail's phone rings on Sunday morning. She stirs in the bed, hoping whoever has called her will leave a voicemail and hang up. The phone stops ringing. Gail gives a sigh of relief. The phone begins to ring again. Gail begrudgingly gets out of bed and rifles around in her shorts from yesterday trying to find her phone. She finally finds it and picks up, "hello?"

"Hi Gail its Claude…" a pause, "Claude Steel. The man who gave you your new name…"

"Yes. I know who you are."

"I was wondering if you could do me a favour." Without even waiting for a confirmation he jumps right into it. "We need someone to check something out for us in Winnipeg, and I figured since you're only twelve hours away, I'd ask you."

"What exactly do you need because I don't want my cover blown up here, I want to be home before the New Year and I'd rather stay in one place instead of having to constantly move around and what about Heather?"

"Who?"

"My wife, Holly. Thanks for that by the way, you could have told me I was going to be with someone."

"You left early. I was going to tell you."

"Yeah yeah. Isn't it faster to have someone fly from to Toronto to Winnipeg then have us drive?"

"Yes, but I need everyone here right now. Plus I figured you may want the change of scenery."

Gail sighs. "So what do I have to do?"

"I need you to watch a warehouse, we suspect it is full of illegal guns smuggled over the border that are then loaded on trains to transport them to major Canadian cities. I just need you to watch the warehouse, see if you see anything. It's just surveillance, it shouldn't be dangerous, so you can take the wife with you if you don't want to leave her alone. Make it a vacation."

Gail's quiet for a second thinking about it, but asks something else. "How's the investigation going?"

"How about we discuss it when you get back."

Gail grumbles but agrees. "Okay, send me the information and I'll let you know what I come up with."

"Thanks Gail."

Gail turns to Holly who is now sitting up in bed. "Looks like we're going to Winnipeg."

* * *

thanks for reading. thanks for reviewing/commenting. always appreciative.


	9. Chapter 9

Holly and Gail knock on the door. Gail turns to Holly, "why are we here again?"

"She's my co-worker…"

"That's nice," Gail kind of shrugs her shoulders. Holly rolls her eyes. "But, why are we here, on a Sunday none the less. I was hoping to go back to sleep and rest today."

"Still feeling tired from yesterday?"

Gail slumps against the side of the house, "those kids wore me out…" Gail stifles a yawn.

Holly rubs Gail's arm soothingly, "we don't have to stay long, just a couple of hours."

Gail groans and knocks again. Ms. Dunn finally answers the door. "Hello," she greets, "thanks for coming." She gives Holly a hug and is about to give one to Gail, who is already waving her hand as a greeting, so Ms. Dunn matches the wave. "Come on in." Ms. Dunn smiles and moves aside to let them in. "It's such a beautiful day out, I figured we could chit chat in the backyard."

First thing Gail noticed when entering the backyard was the trampoline. Usually where there's a trampoline, there's a kid. How did they not know Ms. Dunn had a kid or kids, was she losing her touch at reading people? She scans the backyard and notices a swing set and slide. Yes, definitely kids.

"You have a beautiful backyard," compliments Holly.

"Thanks, I try." She directs them to a grouping of chairs under an umbrella and gestures for them to take a seat. "How you feeling today Heather?"

Holly places a protective hand over her belly, "pretty good. My morning sickness has petered out; I'm no longer puking every day."

"I remember being so relieved when that finally stopped for me." Ms. Dunn gives a sympathetic smile. Gail's eyes light up, _there is a kid_. "It's all worth it though," Ms. Dunn says affectionately, thinking about her bundle of joy. "Speaking of…" she stands up and looks around her yard and spots her daughter under a tree reading a book. "Annie!" A girl of about fifteen walks over. "This is my daughter Annie, Annie these are the Gilberts. I work with Heather and this is her wife Gladys."

"Nice to meet you," she says politely.

Holly notices the book in Annie's hands, "what are you reading?"

'"The Anne of Green Gables' series, I'm on the third book."

Gail opens her mouth to say some sort of joke about the book and her name, but Holly beats her to it "I enjoyed those books..."

"You seem to enjoy all books…" mutters Gail.

Holly smiles at her and continues, "my favourite one was probably the fifth or the seventh book, I couldn't stand the fourth book, it felt like nothing was ever going to happen, the last book is great too, but then there's the second book that one was…"

Gail puts her hand over Holly's mouth, "she liked the series."

Holly mumbles something into Gail's hand and nods her head earnestly. Annie and Ms. Dunn laugh.

"How about some lemonade?" Everyone nods their heads. Ms. Dunn looks at Holly, "would you mind lending me a hand with the drinks?"

Holly nods her head, but Gail stands up. "I'll help." Allowing Holly to talk more about the series with Annie.

Gail follows Ms. Dunn into the kitchen. "Hey Gail, could you reach that tray from the top shelf for me?"

Gail's head looks up from what she's doing. So many thoughts are running through her head, no one should know her real name here, she hasn't even told Holly. "What?" Blank expression on her face, making sure she heard what she did.

"Oh," Ms. Dunn makes eye contact with Gail, "sorry Gladys, you just remind me so much of my deceased sister Gail, she was fair skinned and blonde as well, she had green eyes though, but much like you under her eyes you could tell there was always something brewing," she kind of shakes her head out of the memory, "could you grab that tray for me?" Gail cautiously walks over to reach the tray. "Thanks."

Gail wanting to find out more, making sure Ms. Dunn isn't a threat asks, "were you two close?"

"Who?" Ms. Dunn asks as she grabs the lemonade from the fridge.

"You and you're sister…" Gail questions.

"Oh, yes. It was just the two of us in our family. We were eleven months apart, she was born in January and me in December. We were often in the same class; most people thought we were twins, even though we looked nothing alike." She laughs.

"When did she pass?"

"Oh…gosh…got to be sixteen years now."

 _Darn,_ thinks Gail, _can't ask the kid then. Or maybe I can…_

"Let's go back outside. Here take this." Ms. Dunn kind of dismisses her with the simplistic task of carrying the tray full of drinks out, Gail is very used to this tactic, the conversation is over and she is not to bring it up again. Gail reaches Holly first and tries to give her a look, Holly scrunches up her face not sure what Gail is trying to convey and gives her a look back, Gail in turn rolls her eyes.

Gail is finally alone with Annie, Ms. Dunn wanted to show Holly some rare book she has, "how's your summer going?"

"Great, practically see my friends every day, we seemed to spend most of our time at the beach this year, it was a gorgeous summer. Only one more week left."

"Did you spend any time with your mom's family?"

"Do you mean my grandparents?"

Gail shakes her head, "I mean Gail…"

Annie gives Gail a quizzical expression, "no?"

Gail kind of nods her head, not sure how to proceed. She's about to ask another question when she hears the sliding door open and Holly talking to Ms. Dunn, and decides not to.

Ms. Dunn looks at her watch, "unfortunately we got double booked today, we promised the Langlois' we would go to dinner at their place. I'm sure if I gave them a call, you two could come," she offers.

Once again Gail gives Holly a hell no look. Holly apologetically declines, "we've had a busy weekend and I was looking forward to a quiet night at home, plus we have to do some grocery shopping."

Ms. Dunn smiles, "yeah, you should get your peace and quiet now, because in a few months time you will be going non-stop."

* * *

Gail comes back to the shopping cart that Holly is pushing with her arms full of Kraft Dinner boxes. She drops them into the cart. "Why are you buying that? Homemade macaroni and cheese takes a similar amount of time to make and is so much better for you," wonders Holly.

"I love the taste of processed cheese," Gail shrugs her shoulders. "Speaking of, where are the cheese puffs, I feel like I've been going through withdrawals."

"What?"

"You know, withdrawals, when you stop taking something…come on Heather you should know this, I thought you were supposed to be smart," Gail whispers, "I thought you said you were a doctor." Gail leaves Holly confused in the aisle as she goes and looks for cheese puffs.

* * *

One day at the library's summer camp, the last kid gets picked up and Holly is waiting patiently to talk to Ms. Dunn.

"Thanks again for having us over on Sunday."

"It was my pleasure, like I said; I wanted to get to know you and your wife better," Ms. Dunn smiles.

Holly nods her head. "We had fun and it was nice to meet your daughter…How come you always say 'take this home to your adults'?" asks Holly. Holly internally slaps her head, as she realizes Gail's blunt way of changing subjects and asking questions is rubbing off on her.

Ms. Dunn smiles, "I don't know who the kids are going home to, maybe it's mom or dad or auntie or grandpa or a foster parent…so I figure if adults have kids, why not the opposite. Kids have adults."

"I like that, you don't know what every child's living situation is, but the kids are definitely going home to an adult."

Ms. Dunn nods her head.

* * *

Holly's working on something at the kitchen table; she has the radio on for some background music. Gail enters the house via the deck after she finished watering the garden and hears 'The Middle' by Zedd playing, she sings along to the chorus, "OH BABY," she looks directly at Holly, "why wont you just make me some Kraft Dinner? I'm losing my mind just a little…"

"Just a little," Holly questions with raised eyebrows.

Gail continues, "so why wont you just make me some Kraft Dinner?"

Holly looks up at her and smiles. "Know that we've stocked up on KD, would you like some Kraft Dinner?"

"Yes please."

"You go clean up and I'll make some Kraft Dinner."

Gail practically runs out of the kitchen.

Twelve minutes later and Gail is eating her bowl of Kraft Dinner, "mmm, artificial cheese…"

"…and cauliflower," informs Holly.

"What?!" asks an indignant Gail, "doesn't matter, still delicious."

"Next time I'm making real macaroni and cheese."

"That's fine, as long as I can crumble a few cheese puffs on top, I'm sure it'll taste ok."

Gail finishes the rest of the pot of Kraft Dinner and pushes her bowl to the side. She looks at Holly who has been staring off into space for the past five minutes. "You okay?"

"I'm nervous about my ultra sound appointment," she puts her arms on the table and rests her head on top of them. "What if I'm actually not pregnant? What if I've been sick and tired for weeks and it's not because I'm pregnant? What if there's something wrong with the baby?"

"Hey, hey…it'll be okay. You took the test and it came back positive right?"

Holly nods her head. "Those aren't necessarily accurate though…and they don't tell you what the baby is like…"

"Ummm…" kind of out of Gail's wheel house here, she tries a different route, "whatever the outcome, I'm here for you. We can talk about it or sit in silence, but we're going to the appointment on Thursday and it will put your mind at ease."

Holly sighs. "Thanks. I'm lucky to have you here." She reaches out to hold Gail's hand.

"I feel the same way." She gives Holly's hand a squeeze.

"You do?"

"Sure," responds Gail. "You're lucky to have me here."

* * *

Holly and Gail are cleaning the dishes at the sink, Holly washing and Gail drying. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Don't you need to grab your bowl of questions?" Holly laughs at her own joke.

Gail tries again. "Can I ask you a personal question?"

Holly rinses off the bubbles on the pot in her hands, "Of course."

"How did you decide to have a baby?"

"I was wondering when you would ask me…in medical school I decided to specialize in pathology, I got lucky and was able to intern with a doctor in Toronto, but unfortunately part way through he had some family emergency and had to take time off of work. Luckily a pathologist in Ottawa was willing to finish my training. So I moved to Ottawa where I met Amy. We dated for a couple of months before her lease was up on her apartment, we were getting along great and practically spending most of our time together anyway so I offered my place and she moved in with me. At that point I had about six months left of my program before I graduated. She too is a doctor and was finishing up with dentistry. After I graduated I started applying to different places, I got accepted in Toronto and took the job... Amy and I had talked about marriage and the potential of a family, but she wasn't interested. She made it very clear that she did not want either of those things, and well, I kind of did. We decided with me moving back to Toronto, that it would be a clean spot to break off the relationship. It was a very amicable breakup. I've been back in Toronto for over a year now and I kept debating what to do next. I had gone on multiple dates that didn't go anywhere. I had my mind set on starting a family, I'm in my 30s and I figured if I had a baby with Amy I'd probably end up doing most of the work anyways, so why not have one by myself." Holly stops. "I had my mind set on being a single parent, and I feel bad for having put you in this situation, but I am completely grateful for you."

Gail's quiet for a bit. "Thank you for sharing…What happens when all of this is done?" she asks shyly.

"Well…I'll go back to Toronto…and I'll eventually have a baby to raise."

Gail kind of nods her head, but feels she needs to add, "while were here it's not just you having a baby, it's us, that's if you don't mind…"

"I get it; we need to keep up appearances…"

Gail's not sure how to respond to this. She cares about Holly, like more than anyone she's ever met, which totally surprises her. This baby is a part of Holly, so she cares about the baby; it's as simple as that for Gail. Maybe she should just tell this to Holly, she turns to look at her. Holly has a distant look on her face, clearly deep in thought about something. Gail opens her mouth to speak, but can't.

* * *

Gail and Holly are sitting in the doctor's office for the first ultra sound. Holly is trying to fill out the forms, but can't seem to focus. Gail notices and grabs the clipboard and begins to fill in the basic stuff like names and addresses. Gail could see Holly needs a distraction, so she passes the clipboard back, saying, "I don't know your family history."

Holly silently takes the board and sees that Gail had filled in a fair amount of information for her, she's somewhat surprised to see Gail's name in the emergency contact spot, normally she puts in her parents (obviously she can't do that here though). Holly shakes her head, constantly forgetting that Gail is there for her. She's become so used to doing everything on her own, she's not used to having someone carry half the load, whether it is doing household chores like vacuuming or dishes, or going to the grocery store, she completely enjoys having Gail around, especially after some of her overwhelming days at the library. Holly's decade of studying to become a doctor would have never prepared her to teach children, she is completely pleased with herself for volunteering to help Ms. Dunn this summer, she feels like the first week all she did was shadow Ms. Dunn, watching the professional at work and now she feels she can take on a classroom of her own in September…hopefully. _No she definitely can, she has to._ Holly sighs. _The form, I'm supposed to be filling out the form._ She looks down at the form, and continues to answer the questions.

Once done she looks over at Gail, Gail's been great, so patient and willing to help. She even took the day off of work to come with her to this appointment. Holly smiles over at the blonde. Gail can feel eyes on her and looks over at Holly and sees the smile on Holly's face, Gail sticks her tongue out and Holly laughs at her.

"Heather?" some nurse calls.

Holly stands up and is just about to enter the doctor's office when she realizes she doesn't hear Gail's footsteps behind her. She quickly turns around, "aren't you coming?"

Gail kind of looks around to make sure she means her, she points a finger at herself, still somewhat surprised Holly wants to share this experience with her. "Me?"

Holly gives Gail a lop-sided smile, "yes."

Gail quickly gets out of her seat and practically trips over her feet trying to catch up to Holly. "Let's go." Gail follows Holly into the room. Holly jumps up onto the exam table. Gail closes the door behind her and leans against it, not sure how far into the room she should go.

A doctor is already in the room waiting for them. She looks up from her computer screen with a pleasant smile on her face. "Hello, I'm Dr. Jeans. It's a pleasure to meet you both. Is this your first time with an ultra sound?" Holly shakes her head 'no.' "Well let's get started, today I'm going to check…" Gail is kind of surprised, _how many times has Holly tried for a baby and how far along was she before she lost the other baby or babies?_ Gail kind of tunes back into the doctor, the questions are over and the doctor starts to put gel on Holly's abdomen. "We're going to look at how the fetus is developing and for any potential problems." Holly nods her head. Dr. Jeans grabs the wand and starts to move it around to try and find the baby. Holly feels as if the doctor has been running that wand over and over her abdomen, Holly can't take the pressure anymore, how's the baby, why can't they find the baby, Holly throws her arms over her eyes, ready to burst into tears. Gail can see Holly's in distress; she moves off the door and places a hand on Holly's shoulder. Holly removes her arms from her eyes and looks at Gail, completely heartbroken. Then there's a quiet thump and another. The doctor turns to the two and says, "the baby was playing hide and seek with us." Pointing at the screen with a smile on her face, "but there's your baby."

Holly gasps. She can't believe this is actually happening. She grabs Gail's hand from her shoulder and gives it a squeeze. She looks over at Gail who has the biggest smile on her face.

Gail has never experienced anything like this before, she's pretty sure when people were pregnant and needed someone to go with them to their ultra sound appointments, she's pretty sure she would be last on the list of who to ask to go with them. She looks at Holly, who is completely enthralled staring at the monitor still in a little bit of shock. She looks relieved, even though the tests said she was pregnant, she still wouldn't believe it 'til she saw it.

The doctor brings them out of their thoughts. "Would you like me to tell you the gender?"

Gail looks at Holly, who shakes her head no, "I want it to be a surprise."

"Okay. How about I print you two a picture?"

Gail nods her head eagerly. The doctor smiles and says, "you can pick up the picture at the front desk as well as book your next appointment." She starts to clean up her workstation, putting everything back. "Everything looks good, the baby is growing nicely, I'm happy with its' progress. Congratulations you two." She smiles one last time before she leaves the room.

Holly pulls her shirt back down and sits on the edge of the bed. Gail joins her, sitting close enough for their shoulders to touch. "Wow," says Holly as she leans her head on Gail's shoulder.

"Yeah," says Gail as she rests her head on top of Holly's.

"I can't believe I'm actually pregnant…" Holly grabs Gail's hand again and explains, "This was my third time trying to get pregnant. The first time I tried I wasn't expecting much, I knew the statistics, so I wasn't too surprised when my period came as normal. The second time I had more hope, I was all excited, I even called my mom after about a month or so, but then I had spots in my underwear. I went back to the doctors and decided I was done for now, I knew the toll it was taking on my body and I didn't want to go through the disappointment again. But then I decided one last time before I stop, for good. I don't know what possessed me to try one more time, but I did and I'm so glad that I did." Holly lets out a sigh of content. She adjusts herself, getting ready to stand. "Let's go home, I feel like having macaroni and cheese tonight, how does that sound? All this talk about KD has made me want the real stuff."

* * *

Holly makes homemade macaroni and cheese. She serves a bowl to Gail.

Gail scrunches up her face, "um…Holly, where's the artificial yellowy orange colour?"

"Just eat it."

Gail takes a tentative bite, "mmmm…this is delicious."

Holly smiles at her knowingly. "Better than Kraft Dinner?"

"I didn't say that…" as she shovels more into her mouth.

* * *

This chapter was brought to you by the letters K and D.

I was watching some video where they made Americans and Canadians blind taste test American version of Kraft Dinner and the Canadian version of Kraft Dinner. Turns out Americans like the American version, while Canadians like the Canadian version. Go figure…eh?

Anyways, have a nice day

Thanks for reading, reviewing, following


	10. Chapter 10

Hi turtle: yeah, that's essentially what the video concluded, something about children grew up eating it and liking it, so eating it when you're an adult brigs back fond memories, blah blah blah, nostalgia, they don't mention the potential of people lying on camera though…

Hi homenum: Winnipeg today and next time

Hi Qbonbon: plenty of suspects now

Hi Ally: Ms. Dunn does seem suspicious

Hi hi: you're welcome

* * *

"Are you ready for this road trip? A solid 14 hour car drive…" Gail tries to sound enthusiastic.

"I figured with you driving to Moonbeam, you'd want to fly."

"I checked there aren't any flights from close to Moonbeam to Winnipeg that are convenient for us."

"Why are we going again?" Holly asks somewhat begrudgingly.

"Apparently I need to watch a warehouse; they suspect it is full of illegal guns smuggled over the border that are then loaded on trains to transport them to major Canadian cities. I just need to watch the warehouse, see if I see anything. It's just surveillance, it shouldn't be dangerous, which is why you get to come with me. Make it a vacation."

"Wouldn't it be easier if someone from Toronto goes?"

"I asked, apparently it's easier if I go."

"And why do I have to go?"

"Because…we're a team…"

"Fine, I'll go, but we get to do some sightseeing, I want to see a polar bear."

"You have to come regardless, there really isn't anything to negotiate, who would help you if something bad were to happen while I was away?"

Holly tilts her head to the side ready to say something, but swallows her words. "I said I'd go. I have nothing to do next week anyways, the summer camp is done, the grade school kids are back in school and the high school kids don't start until the following week, which is when I'll start. Plus I've never been to Winnipeg."

"That's the spirit."

Holly smiles to herself, _I will also be able to ask questions on the car ride and Gladys will have nowhere to run to avoid the questions._

* * *

Gail's packing the car, "ready?"

"Yup" Holly responds popping the 'p.'

"How about we drive each for about three hours or…."

"Whenever we, mostly me, need a rest stop."

"Yeah. I've never road tripped with a pregnant woman before."

"I've never road tripped as a pregnant woman before."

"Wow, we have so much in common," Gail jokes.

"Get in the car," Holly smiles.

Gail snaps her fingers as she remembers, "got your pregnancy medication?"

Holly pauses for a moment and narrows her eyes, "you do realize I've been pregnant this whole time and I've been taking my medication all on my own."

Gail kind of gulps, "oh…I was just"

"Trying to be helpful, no I know," Holly's features soften, "thanks." She takes a step towards Gail and places a hand on her face; she rubs her thumb over Gail's cheek. They lock eyes, "thank you. I mean it."

They continue to stare at each other, Gail not entirely sure what to do as she fights the butterflies in her stomach, _how does she keep doing this to me? With just a simple touch,_ thinks Gail _._

"I truly don't know what I'd do without you…" Holly not so subtlety looks at Gail's lips.

Holly's about to take a step closer, when Gail takes a step back to close the trunk, "let's get going nerd." Gail starts to walk to the driver's side door.

Holly shakes her head to clear away the fog in her head, not sure what just happened. She rolls her eyes as she walks to the passenger door and gets in the car. She tries to lighten the mood, not wanting to talk about that brush off, "why is nerd my nickname?"

"I'm sure I can think of something else," Gail gets a twinkle in her eyes.

* * *

They drive out of Moonbeam and get on the Trans Canada highway. They find a radio station they both can agree on and listen to the music for some time. After a little while Gail needs some conversation to keep her alert, tired of looking at the farm landscape.

"So what's Ms. Dunn's story?" Gail asks Holly.

"What do you mean," Holly looks out the window to play it cool.

"Well, the two of you seem to work closely together, and then we met her daughter the other day but she never mentioned a spouse or partner or whatever, so I thought maybe you knew…"

Holly continues to look out the window as she says, "long story short, after she had the baby, Ms. Dunn's wife left her."

"Whoa. Wait. What?"

Holly shrugs her shoulders, clearly a bit of a sore subject for her at the moment.

"How about you make that a short story long?"

"What more do you want me to say? Ms. Dunn had Annie, and a few months later her wife, well I guess I should say ex-wife, realized that's not what she wanted and left."

"Just like that?"

Holly nods her head.

"I'm sure there was more," Gail tries to alleviate the situation. Holly doesn't respond, they drive in silence for several kilometers. _Well that didn't work_ , Gail thinks as they lapse into silence again. She looks at the clock only ten-ish more hours. _Great._

* * *

A man stops Keith and Stacey who are out walking their dogs. "Excuse me?" Keith and Stacey stop. "Do you know who lives in this house?"

"Uh, yeah, the Gilberts do…do you know them or something?"

"Yes, I knocked on their door and no one answered…"

"Oh, they're on vacation," Keith says good-naturedly.

The guy looks confused, "I must have gotten my dates wrong, thank you. You have been very helpful."

"Did you want me to tell them you stopped by? I didn't catch your name…"

"Oh, that's okay. I'll be back." The guy walks off.

"That was weird…"

"The Gilberts know some strange people."

"Tell me about it, sometimes when I come across Gladys on her mail route I see her yelling into her phone, completely angry, but then seconds later after she hangs up she changes her demeanor and she looks completely calm, it's kind of unnerving…"

"Weird."

* * *

After Gail's failed attempt at a conversation, they have since switched drivers twice and Gail is driving again. "What's wrong?" Gail noticed Holly seemed closed off and lost in her thoughts.

"Nothing."

"You sure, I mean we still have a six hour drive. Plenty of time to discuss whatever is on your mind." Gail's eyes go big, she can't believe what she just said, normally she would prefer the silence, would prefer whoever she's driving with would not talk to her, let alone tell her what's bothering them.

"It's Labour Day weekend."

"It is," agrees Gail, "usually the weekend that signifies the end of summer, with most kids going back to school on Tuesday."

"Some years I would miss Thanksgiving or Christmas, it couldn't be helped, but I never missed going home for my parents' Labour Day weekend party…I just miss my family."

"Oh…" Gail's family celebrates Thanksgiving and Christmas and would have the kids over at various other times a year, but they always understood if she couldn't make it because of work, the pleasure of having the whole family in a law enforcement job. "What would you guys normally do on Labour Day?"

"Nothing really, we, meaning my brother and sister, would always go to our parents' house to spend the weekend with each other. We all have our own lives in different cities so it was always nice to get together on a day that isn't necessarily a big holiday and just be together. Even my grandma comes over, she lives in a retirement home near my parents, she'll probably be there this weekend…wondering why I'm not there…" Holly sighs. Gail rests a hand on Holly's leg to give her some sort of comfort. Holly looks at the hand, looks at Gail and gives her a sad smile before she continues to look out the window.

* * *

They stopped at some diner for dinner and that was their last stop before they finally reached Winnipeg. They checked into a hotel and made their way to their room. Gail drops their bags on the floor before she drops herself onto the couch. She lets out a sigh of relief. "Fuck, I'm tired. We did nothing all day, just drove…"

Holly wanders around the room, sees a kitchenette, a full bathroom, "You did most of the driving," she comments from the bedroom, "it is tiring just sitting there." Gail sighs again before she fully stretches out on the couch cracking some of her limbs. "Why don't you just go to bed, it's already after eleven. It's been a long day."

"Yeah, okay." Gail gets off the couch and grabs her bag to bring with her into the bedroom, her phone rings, "yeah?"

"Where are you?" she recognizes the voice immediately.

"What do you mean?"

"Where are you?" Steve repeats.

"I'm in Winnipeg."

"Oh, ok. Wait, why are you in Winnipeg?"

"Claude sent us here."

"What for?"

"Don't you guys talk," questions Gail, "I'm here to check out a warehouse, he said something about it would be easier if I went."

Steve's quiet for a second, "that doesn't make sense, wouldn't it have been easier to send someone from Toronto, the flight would have been a lot easier then, how long did you drive for?"

"…fourteen hours."

"That sucks; I do not envy you right now."

Gail yawns, "my sentiments exactly."

"Well I wont keep you then, but since I have you...how are things?"

"Fine."

"How's your partner, she has an impressive folder…"

"Why would she have a folder, what kind of a doctor has a folder at a police station?...No wait, don't tell me, I want to find out on my own, give me something to do."

"She's a p-"

"No, I said don't tell me," Gail pauses for a second, "she's a p...podiatrist? No that doesn't make sense...pediatrician...hmmm..."

"So how do you like her?"

"She's great, she's super smart and funny and nice. She's easy to be around; she doesn't annoy me like most people do..."

"Whoa, hold up there Gail, it's starting to sound like you like her," Steve teases.

"No," Gail says bluntly.

"Good, don't. That's such a cliché, falling for your uc partner."

Gail scoffs, "uh…yeah."

"It's good you were able to get away then," says Steve, "so you can stop pretending, even if it's just for a little bit."

"Yeah. Stop pretending." Gail yawns, "I'm tired is there anything you need?"

"No not really we can talk when you get back."

"Ok."

"Night Gail."

"Night Steve."

* * *

Gail makes her way into the bedroom, _whoa it's like a 1950s sitcom in here_ , as she observe the two single beds with a bed side table separating them. She lays on the one and throws her arms over her eyes and sighs.

"Who was that?" asks Holly.

"Just my brother."

"Did you ask him if I could call home?"

"Oh no, I forgot, next time."

Holly nods her head. She continues to stand in the bathroom doorway and stares at Gail lying on the tiny bed with her arms over her face. Holly walks over to the bed and climbs on top of Gail, straddling her legs. Holly grabs Gail's wrists to pull them off of her face; she reveals two bright blue eyes. Holly smiles down at Gail and leans down to kiss her, she senses Gail's uncomfortable. Gail lays there frozen to the spot. "What's wrong?" asks Holly.

"What do you mean?"

"A couple of weeks ago you were groping me, and today you recoiled at my touch. You've been all happy helping me with my pregnancy, then when I go to touch you and kiss you, you get all twitchy. I don't know what's wrong."

"I don't know either," Gail admits. _Yes I do,_ thinks Gail, _whenever I start to like someone, whenever I start to get close to anyone, they leave me…_ "There isn't anyone to see us here, you can stop pretending now."

Hurt and anger flash through Holly's eyes, "pretending?" she says in disgust.


	11. Chapter 11

Hurt and anger flash through Holly's eyes, "pretending?" she says in disgust as she tries to desperately get off Gail as fast as she can without hurting either of them. She stands over the bed looking down at Gail, she turns around and walks the two steps to her bed and sits on it facing Gail, happy for the space. "What's gotten into you?"

"Nothing," Gail says in a sing-songy voice.

"It's clearly not nothing," Holly is visibly upset. "What do you mean stop pretending?"

"Double negative," mumbles Gail.

"What did you say Gladys?"

"It's Gail," mumbles Gail.

"I can't understand you with your hands over your face."

Gail sighs and sits up, "it's just. It's just something Steve said. He mentioned that…he mentioned that falling for your partner is such a cliché, and he's right, that's why I broke up with my last boyfriend."

Holly's slightly confused, "…because you fell for your last undercover partner?"

"What?! No! He fell for his, adding insult to injury she was one of my closest friends, I even shared my snacks with her one time after she had a rotten break up."

"Oh. And what? I'm pretty sure that I remember you saying you were looking for a reason to break up with him anyways. I don't see what the big deal is if you find you click with the person you were sent under cover with, especially if you are both available," Holly is clearly waiting for the other shoe to drop, if there is another shoe to drop.

"Nothing else really, it's just, right now we are spending a lot of time together, but what happens when we go back to Toronto? Do we part amicably, do we ignore anything happened, what do we do?"

"What do you want to do?" Holly starting to see what Gail's worried about, the future.

"I'm not sure," says Gail in a small voice.

"Well, when you figure it out, why don't you let me know." Gail nods her head. Holly places a hand over her belly, "because I know what I'll be doing, and if you want to be in our lives that would be great, but if you don't, I'd rather know now." Gail nods her head again. "You have the night to think about it." Gail's eyes go wide. Holly tilts her head at her. Gail nods her head in response, meaning _I get it_. "Good night." Holly turns off her bedside light and lies on her side facing away from Gail.

"Good night," Gail whispers into the dark.

* * *

Gail can't sleep, she's tossing and turning in her little bed, she can't get comfortable. She can't stop replaying what she said to Holly, she knows she screwed up and needs to make it better. She hurt Holly's feelings and put a damper on their relationship, chalking it up to a nothing relationship, when Gail knows that this is becoming the most important relationship she has and has ever had. Gail sighs and grumbles to herself, "I can't believe you did that, just because you've been hurt in the past doesn't mean it will happen again, you really like her, you should have just answered her question last night, you already know your answer, you didn't need the night to think about it," Gail sighs again, "you're an idiot."

The other bed responds, "yeah, sometimes you are."

Gail startles in her bed, "sorry, I didn't know you were awake, or I didn't mean to wake you."

"Kind of difficult to sleep with you making so much noise over there," Holly lifts the cover of her tiny bed and pats the spot beside her.

Gail doesn't have to think twice, she quickly throws off her blankets and joins Holly. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you, I'm so sorry," Gail repeats herself.

"I know," says Holly. She closes her eyes, "go to sleep, we're both tired, we can discuss more tomorrow."

Gail looks at the bedside clock and reads 3am; Gail yawns, and snuggles closer to Holly, "good night nerd."

* * *

Gail wakes first. She shifts and almost falls out of bed; she quickly catches herself and realigns herself on the tiny bed. Gail lies next to Holly, wondering whether or not she should move back to her bed.

Suddenly Holly's awake, she looks somewhat disoriented, she looks over at Gail and frowns, she rapidly gets out of the bed by climbing over Gail before she races to the bathroom. Several minutes later Holly reemerges from the bathroom, she doesn't know what to do. Does she go back into her bed or take over Gail's? Where do she and Gail stand? Her decision was made easier for her when Gail sees the look of uncertainty on Holly's face, knowing she caused that look, Gail moves to the other side of the bed so Holly can get in easier. Holly smiles faintly at Gail as she climbs into bed. "Everything okay?" asks Gail.

"For the most part," Gail can smell the mouthwash on Holly's breath.

"Are you still experiencing morning sickness?"

Holly nods her head.

Gail slams her hand into her forehead, "your life is already complicated enough, and I'm making it worse by being wishy-washy all the time."

Holly pauses for a second, letting Gail really understand what she just said. "Not necessarily worse, but definitely more complicated."

"Ugh," says an exasperated Gail, "I am so sorry. It's like I'm toying with you and you are the last person I should be toying with, last person I want to be toying with."

"Don't let your brother get in your head…"

"I know, I know, it's just I'm so scared to lose you. I don't know why but I have always figured that if I were to break things off first it would be easier."

"Only easier on you."

"I know, I like that you call me out on this stuff," admits Gail.

"You said it yourself, you're an idiot."

Gail furrows her brow, "I'm glad that that is what you took away from that monologue last night." Holly lightly chuckles. "How are you so forgiving and understanding?"

"The two 'p's, patience and practice." Gail rolls her eyes. "Well, I'm quite fond of you too, but you already know that," Gail nods her head, "that has probably been the worst part for me, knowing that I like you and you like me and yet you are still willing to toss it all away. Sometimes you can be extremely infuriating."

Gail loudly sucks in some air, "I deserve that, you're right. I need to do better, I need to be better. I need to stop thinking about myself first, and start thinking about you and…" not sure if she should say it, "and the baby as well." Holly nods her head, liking what she's hearing from Gail. They lay in silence for a little while just staring at the other, mapping each other's face with their eyes.

Holly breaks the silence. "This is it though, no more second chances. You are stuck with me until you actually break up with me." Holly tries to joke.

"That's just it," says Gail, "I don't think I will ever want to break up with you."

Those are the words Holly's been looking for her whole life, _I don't think I ever want to break up with you_ , the implication those words have, the meaning of those words hit Holly hard, Holly is speechless. She looks into Gail's eyes, and sees the earnesty in them. Holly leans part way to Gail, Gail doesn't have to think twice about this, as she leans closer to Holly to close the gap and let their lips touch. Gail can feel the warmth on Holly's lips, she can feel the promise and hope in the kiss, and she knows she's right; she never wants to lose Holly.

As they finally part, Holly asks, "what do we do now?"

Gail looks at the clock from where she's still laying in the bed curled around Holly, "it's 11am, we missed breakfast at the hotel, we don't really have a schedule, so we can either get up now and go for a late breakfast or we can go back to sleep, wake up later and go for an even later breakfast."

"I could use more sleep," yawns Holly.

"Me too," agrees Gail. Gail has a smile on her face as she throws her arm over Holly's waist, happy to be in contact with her. On past undercover missions, Gail would have been thrilled with the two single beds, she would have relished the opportunity to be given her own space, but here she is ecstatic to be sharing a small bed with Holly.

* * *

Holly and Gail go for a walk looking for a late breakfast; they find a place that boasts all you can eat waffles. Gail gets a grin on her face as she grabs Holly's hand to steer her towards the eatery.

Sitting in a booth, with a cup of coffee in front of both of them waiting for their food, Gail asks, "considering those beds are bolted to the floor and can't be pushed together, should we ask the front desk if they have any rooms available with bigger beds?"

"I kind of like the 1950s sitcom feel, as you put it yesterday."

"Okay Lucy," Gail rolls her eyes.

"If it helps, you're a much prettier Ricky," says Holly as Gail rolls her eyes again. _Well this didn't help,_ thinks Gail, _do we get a bigger bed or not…_

The server comes back with their food, Gail's eyes light up when her waffles get placed in front of her. She glances over at Holly's plate, a boiled egg, toast, and fresh fruit. "I can't believe you ordered that, didn't you read the sign? All you can eat waffles…how can you pass on that?" questions Gail.

"Some of us like a well balanced diet, not just carbs and sweets, or in this case a combo of the two for you."

"Whatever you say, just don't think you can eat my waffles," warns Gail as she tries to guard her waffles by placing her arms protectively around her plate.

"You get unlimited waffles, I'm sure if I had just a little of your waffles," Holly tries to reason, "you could order another one if you wanted more."

Gail looks at her strangely, "maybe just one bite…" They both dig in to their plates. When Gail thinks Holly's not looking, Gail cuts off a piece of her waffle and slips it onto Holly's plate. "Yum," Gail licks her lips, "this is a really good waffle," she praises. She shoves another chunk into her mouth as she says, "Leslie Knope's respect for waffles on 'Parks and Rec' was the only reason I watched that show."

"You watched 'Parks and Rec'?"

Gail shrugs her shoulders, "it's a good show."

"No, I know it is, not judging, its super funny, highlight of my Thursday nights, when I was able to watch it. But Leslie really? I would have thought April's distaste… for, well… everything would be more up your alley, or Ron who is always talking about eating…but I mean sure... Leslie and her waffles was a constant occurring thread in that show."

"Not that I don't like those other characters, it's just I really connected with Leslie's character on how great waffles truly are," says Gail through another mouthful of waffle. She flags down the waiter to bring her another plate of waffles.

"Okay," says Holly, shaking her head wondering how many waffles Gail will actually eat.

After another two servings of waffles, Holly helping herself to bites as Gail slowed down, the two decide to wander around Winnipeg during the day time, entering the city at night gives the city a different perspective, and they want to get a feel for the city, just in case. They see signs advertising multiple functions happening in Winnipeg that week. "I don't know why they put up signs for a psychic expo…" ponders Gail.

"Yeah, shouldn't the people who attend those sorts of things know it's coming?"

"We should go," jokes Gail.

"Do you think they'll be expecting us?" Holly jokes back.

"We can decide as we walk by the warehouse, see if there's any activity during the day, but I think we should test your psychic abilities and see if you can predict my answer."

* * *

That night Holly and Gail park somewhat close to the warehouse to watch it. They've already been there for a couple of hours and so far nothing. But that may mean nothing. Gail looks at the clock already 2am. They've mostly been sitting in silence snacking and observing the nothingness at this warehouse. Gail figures one more hour and they'll leave for the night. "I have to go to the washroom," declares Holly.

"Whoever thought having a pregnant lady join you on a stakeout would be a good idea is an idiot," Gail mumbles.

"I said sorry," Holly says somewhat grumpily.

"Oh no, it's not your fault," Gail tries to back pedal; totally regretting she voiced her opinion aloud.

"No it kind of is, I have to go pee again." Gail holds up an empty bottle. "That wasn't funny the first time, and it's not funny now."

Gail sighs, "I know, sorry. I shouldn't have brought you; I should have left you in the comfort of our hotel room with a bathroom nearby. Sorry. There's a convenient store over there."

Holly is completely uncomfortable, she's agitated, she doesn't know what to do, she tries to hold back her emotions, she tries to tamp them down, but she can't, she breaks down in their SUV, fed up with all of this. "I don't want to be here. I want to be home," she says loudly.

"We're only here for the week, but we can leave early and go back to Moonbeam as soon as I figure out what's going on with this warehouse."

"I don't mean going 'home' to Moonbeam," Holly snarls. "I mean home home. I'm having a baby for fucks sake, I shouldn't be here in a place I do not intend to stay and raise my child, or here on a stakeout where literally anything could happen…" Holly is starting to spiral, she can't get a grip as she continues, "what if something happened to me or my baby, I would never forgive myself or you or Claude stinkin' Steele, why would he send us out here?"

"Heather look at me," Gail grabs her hands to stop Holly, but it doesn't work.

"I want to go home; I'm probably not as big of a threat as they think I am…" Holly tries to rationalize. "I could just call him up and tell him I'm ready to go home, that they're all over reacting and that I will be safe in Toronto." Holly keeps talking, thinking she will find some sort of loop hole that can bring her home to her town house.

"Holly, babe, you need to calm down, not just for you or me but for the baby…"

"No Gladys, you don't get it, I want to go home, I want to…" Holly waves her hands in the air, "I want to feather my nest…"

"Holly, you need to look at me," Gail grabs Holly's face, "just look at me." Holly finally takes her eyes off of her hands in her lap and makes eye contact with Gail. "Breathe with me. Nice and slowly. There you go." All that can be heard is the steady breathing of the two women. A minute or two passes, "how you feeling?" Gail takes her hands off of Holly's face.

Silence. "Not great. I feel foolish." Holly faces the window to compose herself, trying to wipe the tear stains that are left on her cheeks.

"You shouldn't. Let's go back to the hotel; I don't think anything is happening here tonight."

"You sure?"

"It doesn't matter, we shouldn't be here in the first place, Claude should have sent someone else than us." Holly nods her head. Gail adjusts herself in the driver's seat and starts the car. "What do you want to do tomorrow?" trying to change the subject, not willing to talk about the potential of them going back to Toronto, knowing that they still may be in Moonbeam for three more months, according to Steve's latest timeline.

Holly hiccups, still trying to steady herself, "I believe I was promised polar bears…"

"I wouldn't necessarily say promised…but, yeah let's go see the polar bears. We'll do whatever you want to do tomorrow."

Holly nods her head, "Remember how I said I had to go to the bathroom earlier…I still have to go, so if you could maybe drive a little faster."

* * *

Gail comes up with a plan so last night never happens again, they walk by the warehouse in the afternoon to check on it during the day time, Gail watches the warehouse at night by herself, _she should have done so in the first place_ , she scolds herself. The two do touristy things during the day, first up polar bears. "We're hand in hand at the zoo, yet I can only look at you," rhymes Gail.

"Oh gosh, that was bad." Holly puts her hand over her mouth, "I think my afternoon morning sickness is back."

"What?" asks an alarmed Gail, looking around for a bathroom.

"I was joking; I was trying to say I threw up a little in my mouth from what you said…"

"Oh, ha ha, very funny nerd. Please don't joke though. Not about that." Gail continues to guide them forward. Holly looks over at Gail with a small grin on her face. "Hey look!" Gail happy for the distraction, "polar bears!"

"Did you know, a polar bear's fur is see through?"

"I did not know that," responds Gail.

"It only looks white because of the light. Did you know that all polar bears might be gone by 2050?"

"Okay nerd, enough fun facts; let's go see them up close."

* * *

The two fall into a pattern for the rest of the week. They spend the day together; Gail takes a nap after dinner, which usually consists of take out and them watching tv on the couch. Afterwards, Gail leaves to watch the warehouse while Holly stays in the hotel room. Gail comes back to the hotel at 5 in the morning, sleeps for a couple of hours before she wakes up to find Holly grabbed them breakfast stuff at the hotel lobby, and is waiting patiently to do something.

Holly happens to come from the bathroom as Gail gets back from the warehouse. "You going to stay up for a bit or you coming to bed?"

"I'm tired; I just need to put on my pjs."

"You mean your boxers with little police badges? Where did you even get those?" questions Holly.

"From…a friend…as a gift…"

"Yeah, that was not very convincing, you stole them from an ex," accuses Holly.

Gail half smiles and tries to explain, "he was so happy when he came home with them, he had to go somewhere shortly after he showed them to me, and well I helped him…misplace them."

Holly laughs lightly, "ok, go put on your stolen police badge boxers and come to bed."

* * *

The two are trying to plan their last day in Winnipeg out, after deciding to go check out the sculpture gardens, Gail nervously suggests, "this week has been crazy, let me do something nice for you, I want to do something nice for you, let's go to dinner somewhere nice."

"You said nice three times in that sentence," Holly points out.

Gail sighs, fearing she failed at her attempt to be nice, to be…better.

Holly slightly confused, "you do realize neither of us has fancy clothes here, or in Moonbeam for that matter."

"So? I'm sure we can find somewhere nice" Gail cringes as she says nice again, "that doesn't have a strict dress code. I can't believe what I'm saying; the best part about going on a date is the dressing up part, I sort of like the anticipation of the date."

Holly laughs, "you're insane, you know that right? We don't need to look nice to have a nice time."

"Just think about it, and tell me before tonight so I can suss out some places. We will have a better chance of finding somewhere nice," Gail clearly stuck on that word, "to eat here in the city instead of in the little town of Moonbeam."

"That's just it though; we don't have to go somewhere nice."

"But I want to take you somewhere nice," insists Gail.

"I am pretty much fine wherever you take me, unless it's back to the surveillance van."

* * *

They go to a place the lady at the front desk recommended. Gail holds open the door for Holly and pulls out her chair for her. They sit at the table and Gail starts to tap out a rhythm on the surface, she's nervous and doesn't know why. "Did you know there is still a cassette factory in the States?"

"I did not."

"And business is booming for them," Gail tries to play off her nervous energy.

Holly's too smart for that, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just think it's really impressive that cassettes still have a place in today's society."

Holly ignores the last part of Gail's response and says, "I know better now, that it's not nothing. Why are you nervous?"

"I truly don't know."

Holly reaches her hand across the table to hold Gail's hand; she can feel they're a little clammy. "Hey." Gail raises her head to look at Holly. "We don't have to do this, we could leave now and grab a pizza and go back to our room and I would still have fun. I told you it doesn't matter where we go or what we do. I meant it."

"No, its okay. I want to be here with you."

"I know you do," assures Holly. "But…"

"No," smiles Gail, "I'm good…, so what toy do you wish never existed?"

Holly shakes her head, slightly taken aback by Gail's abrupt change in topic, but continues to hold Gail's hand as she comes up with a response, "well, when I was doing my rotation at the hospital, too many kids came in with injuries from water filled yoyos, so water filled yoyos would be my answer."

Gail drops her head, "maybe I am little nervous, what kind of a question was that?" she wonders aloud.

"Hey," Holly moves her hand to Gail's face to lift her head, "remember, no pressure." Holly gets a wry smile on her face, "I could tell you more polar bear facts."

"Tempting, and a truly thoughtful request, but I think I'm going to pass," Gail smiles.

"Okay, but the offer's still on the table," Holly releases Gail's hands and sits back in her chair.

The waiter comes over to take their drink order Holly asks for juice and Gail says, "me too."

Holly, "you can have a beer, just cause I can't drink, doesn't mean you can't."

"You sure, cause I don't mind," Holly nods her head, "I'll have whatever's on draft."

The waiter leaves and the two look over their menus. Holly quickly makes a decision, closes her menu and puts it on the table. Gail is lost, looking at all the choices, and for whatever reason she can't decide what to pick. It's food, Gail should easily make a choice, but Gail can't, she's totally nervous, and doesn't want to screw this up. "Are you going back to the warehouse tonight?"

Gail closes her menu, pretty much certain she will pick whatever, "uh, no, I don't think there's anything going on in there. I've staked out the place for the past week now and I haven't seen anyone go in or out, I don't know where he got the tip from, but I think Claude was given bad intel."

"Huh…" Holly pauses, taking in all the information, "that's weird." Not really sure what to say or where the investigation goes after this, never really having to see this side of the police process.

"Yup," Gail pops the 'p.' Back in her wheel house, Gail starts to feel more comfortable as she shares with Holly a time when her and Dov where sent on special assignment to watch a warehouse a couple of years ago. The conversation starts to flow more easily. She re-picks up her menu and makes a quick decision, putting it down without missing a beat. Holly smiles to herself.

* * *

The rest of the dinner went a lot better than the way it began, the two happy for a bit of normalcy in their lives. Holly and Gail decide to do some shopping in Winnipeg before they leave town. "I could use some school supplies and it's almost fall, we could use some warmer clothing."

"Twist my arm," says Gail, when Holly asks her to go shopping.

They spend some time going from store to store, picking and choosing various items. They get to an office supply store and Holly's pushing her shopping cart when she stops. "I think I just figured it out," declares Gail.

"Figured what out," asks Holly who is holding a lunchbox that she intends to purchase as she puts it in the cart.

"Your new nickname, lunchbox."

* * *

Thanks for reading. Thanks for commenting.


	12. Chapter 12

It's Sunday afternoon and Gail's finished unpacking from their little trip. She walks down stairs and finds Holly pacing from the kitchen to the living room and back again. "Ready for your first day of school tomorrow?" Gail asks.

Holly startles, "yes. No. Maybe. I don't know."

"Oh wow," Gail kind of laughs to herself, not really sure what to do, "anything I can do to help?"

"No," Holly sighs, "I was trying to read, but my mind keeps percolating and I can't focus. I want to go for a run, but it's raining out and I shouldn't be out in that weather."

Gail steps into Holly's space and places her hands on her hips; she wiggles her eyebrows and asks, "wanna make out?"

"With you?" Holly laughs and kisses Gail on the lips.

"I'll take that as a yes," says Gail as she grabs Holly's hand and drags her to the couch.

* * *

Holly finally pulls away, desperate for air. She looks at Gail and sees those two crystal blue eyes staring at her. Gail pushes Holly's shoulder, urging her to lie down on the couch. Holly obliges. They start kissing again; Gail's hand slips under Holly's shirt, and tentatively moves her hand northward, trailing her fingers along Holly's ribs. Goose bumps appear on Holly's skin. Gail adjusts herself so her thigh is in between Holly's. Holly puts her hands on Gail's shoulder and slightly pushes her back. Holly gulps at air and tries to form words, "we…we…we need to stop." Holly's hormones are going crazy, she doesn't know if she can do this or if she should do this.

Gail sees the pain on Holly's face, "you okay?"

"Sort of," admits Holly, who turns her head towards the back of the couch, trying to collect her thoughts and compose herself, trying to hide her desired filled eyes. Gail gives her a second, not pushing but also not moving from her spot on top of Holly. Holly's not sure if they should take this step in their relationship. Holly turns her head back to Gail; she sees the worry in her eyes and wants to set Gail at ease. "It's just…" Holly starts but stops.

"Your hormones," Gail helpfully says. Holly nods her head. Gail continues, "you have entered your second trimester and your sex drive is back and hormones are taking over…or you are crazy attracted to me…" Gail jokes.

Holly rolls her eyes, "crazy attracted to you," Holly repeats, "emphasis on the crazy," she jokes back.

Gail ignores her and continues, "you're going to start looking more pregnant and you may start to feel the baby soon. Your nausea will lessen and you will have more energy."

"Look who's been reading my pregnancy book." Gail blushes. "So…you're okay with this?" questions Holly. "No more mini freak outs," Gail shakes her head, saddened that Holly feels the need to give her an out, "okay then," Holly connects her lips to Gail's with a forceful kiss, Holly slips her tongue into Gail's mouth eliciting a moan from the blonde. Holly gets lost in the kiss and is suddenly surprised to feel cold. She opens her eyes to find Gail standing next to the couch.

"I'm tired of us squishing into small spaces; let's go upstairs to our big bed."

Holly quickly gets up and takes Gail's outstretched hand.

* * *

Holly feels great, she feels more at ease, previously she felt like she was going to snap, but now she feels sated. Holly felt all wound up, and no matter what she did, the hormones, the nerves, the fellings, kept coming back. She feels more like herself again. It was getting to the point that whenever Gail touched her, she felt like she would explode, but now Holly feels like she is in a state of tranquility. Gail wakes up and sees Holly sitting up in bed with a bare back. Gail reaches her hand out and starts to lazily trace patterns. Holly slightly turns her head, "hey."

"Hey." They smile at each other. "You're on my side of the bed," Gail points out.

Holly immediately flips on top of Gail. "Better?"

"Much." Gail pulls Holly into a kiss. Holly rests her forehead against Gail's. "And you wanted to go for a run in the rain."

Holly turns in the bed to get a better look at the clock, "there's still time," as she looks out the window, "and it stopped raining, if we start getting dressed now, we could-"

Gail kisses Holly, "you just had to stop talking."

"I wont say another word."

* * *

Gail walks into the bathroom the following day and leans against the door jamb. She watches as Holly puts on the finishing touches of her makeup. Holly looks up and catches Gail's eyes in the mirror. Gail strides over to Holly not breaking their eye contact, she focuses on moving Holly's hair to one side, she then places her hands on Holly's hips and presses her body into Holly's. She regains eye contact as she begins kissing up Holly's neck. Holly tilts her head to the side to give Gail better access. Holly restrains herself from pushing back into Gail. Gail speaks between kisses, "it's not too late, we could still call in sick."

Holly hums as Gail continues to kiss her, "I can't, it's the first day of school. What does that say to the students if their teacher misses the first day of school?"

"That she's cool," states Gail.

Holly breaks the eye contact they were sharing in the mirror to face Gail. "I'm going to work and so are you." Gail pouts. Holly kisses Gail's cheek, "you better get going, you're going to be late."

"Okay," sighs Gail dramatically. She's about to head down stairs when she ducks her head into the bathroom, "babe?"

"Yeah," responds Holly with a dopey lop sided grin. Holly tries to catch Gail's eyes in the mirror but quickly sees what she's staring at.

"Don't forget you're teaching horny teenagers, you should probably do up another button." Holly looks down at her button up top and quickly does up a button. "Have fun," says Gail as she kisses Holly on the cheek goodbye.

* * *

Gail gets to work and begins to sort the mail and pack her mail bag. Keith brings his bag next to Gail, "hey Gladys." Gail grunts in acknowledgment. "How was your vacation?"

Gail mentally prepares herself for this social interaction, "pretty good, thanks for asking." Keith, clearly done with his bag, doesn't look like he's ready to leave yet as he continues to stand next to Gail. "How was Mrs. Cranky last week?"

"Uh…cranky. She asked about you…wanted to know where Blondie was," Keith kind of chuckles. Gail rolls her eyes. "Someone was," Keith tentatively says, "by your house and wanted to know here you were. He said he was looking for the Gilberts."

Gail immediately goes on alert, "someone was at my house and you didn't recognize him?"

Keith shakes his head, "never seen him before in my life."

Gail's good mood from this morning turns sour, "thanks for letting me know." Gail grabs her mail bag and makes her way outside. "Shit," she swears under her breath. "Who knows I'm here?"

* * *

Holly is standing in front of her new class. She looks at all their faces and sees them all looking totally bored and they only just got there, she glances around the classroom and her eyes land on one kid who is practically vibrating in his seat all excited for the new year, new class, new teacher, _really he hit a trifecta,_ Holly laughs to herself, seeing a little bit of her in this young student.

Holly rolls her shoulders, ready to begin.

* * *

For the rest of the day Gail is very vigilant, every house she drops mail off at she looks around, checks out her surroundings. She thinks about making a special trip to the school to check on Holly, but decides against it considering how well it went over last time; she does not want to have to rehash that argument again.

Gail delivers the mail in record time and gets back to the safe house where she does a sweep of the property, making sure nothing is out of place, making sure everything looks secure. After she's happy with the state of everything she heads inside to clean up a bit before Holly gets back from her first day of school. Gail decides she'll tell Holly about their mystery guest at dinner or something.

* * *

"Mrs. Gilbert," Ms. Dunn calls out to Holly as she's about to leave the school. "How was it?"

Holly gets a timid smile on her face, "different, that's for sure."

"How so?" wonders Ms. Dunn, "I thought you came to Moonbeam for this job, I assumed you were a teacher and-"

Holly, kind of caught off guard, quickly cuts in and tries to reverse whatever doubt Ms. Dunn has about her, "I just meant," Holly kind of shakes her head, "we've been working with kids all summer, you know, switching from kids to teenagers it's just different is all…"

"Oh," Ms. Dunn nods her head, "I get it, I understand what you mean, the age gap can be…different."

Holly happy to avoid that disaster, she switches to a safer topic, "how did Annie enjoy her first day of school?"

Ms. Dunn smiles at the mention of her daughter, "I don't know, I haven't seen her yet. I'm sure she'll have plenty to say tonight, or not, you know teenagers, sometimes they talk a lot" Ms. Dunn shrugs her shoulders, "and other times they don't." Holly stifles a yawn, which Ms. Dunn sees, "oh, I won't keep you; you probably want to go home and rest after your long day."

Holly nods her head in appreciation, "thanks, I could really use a nap."

* * *

After waking from her nap, Holly sees that Gail has the table set and dinner on the stove, but Gail is nowhere to be seen. She looks around and finally spots Gail out back picking flowers. She watches Gail get up and stroll over to the back deck. She enters the kitchen, "oh hey, you're up." Holly nods her head and gives Gail the empty mason jar she found on a shelf and filled with water to put the flowers in. "Thanks." Gail kind of gestures Holly to sit down at the table, "I uh…made dinner."

Their dinner is filled with Gail asking questions to Holly about her day and Gail trying to figure out a way to tell Holly what Keith told her this morning. Gail decides to wait until they're done dinner, no point being upset on an empty stomach. Holly gushes about her day, telling Gail many little tid bits of anything and everything that happened to her, from the kids in her class to the dynamics in the staff room at lunch time, Holly shares it all. Gail finally tells Holly about her day, mostly what Keith shared with her that morning, Holly gets really quiet, not sure what to make of it. Holly stands up from the table; she walks over to Gail and pushes the chair out so she can sit on Gail's lap. "You okay?" asks Gail.

"I will be, just give me a minute." Holly rests her head on top of Gail's and snakes her arms around her shoulders. Gail encircles Holly with her arms, happy to be of some comfort to the brunette. "Who do you think it could be?"

"I honestly don't know."

* * *

Nothing exciting seems to happen the rest of the week; life seems to tick on without any problems. Holly finds each day she spends at school easier, easier to figure out the hang of teaching and how the school operates as well as the students. Gail continues to stay watchful on the job and at the safe house, keeping a careful eye on anybody and everybody she sees in her daily encounters.

The two fall into a comfortable rhythm, happy knowing that the other is there and willing to look out for each other. "Gladys!" Holly calls from the kitchen.

Gail enters the kitchen and sees Holly smiling, Gail's been noticing that whenever Holly says Gladys she smiles, she decides to ask, "how come you smile every time you say Gladys?"

Holly smiles immediately. "It always reminds me of the old folks at my grandma's retirement home." Holly puts on an old lady voice, '"Gladys you're hogging all the puzzle pieces!' or 'BINGO? Gladys you can't possibly have BINGO, they've only called two numbers!'" Holly laughs at her impressions.

"Wow nerd…wow."

"'Let's all sit down and play a nice game of canasta."'

"You need to stop" says a laughing Gail.

'"I thought it was the fall that broke my hip, but it turns out it was my broken hip that caused me to fall.'"

Gail's fed up and leaves the room. She comes back in and sees Holly still in stitches. Gail says, "my name's Gail. How about we make a new rule, whenever we're here at home you can call me Gail, if you'll just stop doing old people impressions."

Holly stops laughing and her face breaks into a lop-sided smile, "Gail, huh?"

"Yup" Gail pops the 'p'.

"I prefer it to Gladys."

Gail raises an eyebrow and completely serious says, "I actually really like the name Gladys and was thinking that once this is all over, I might actually change my name to Gladys."

Holly starts to laugh again. "You're such a liar."

"I'll be in the garden."

"You really like the vegetable garden," Holly comments.

"Some people find gardening therapeutic," retorts Gail.

"Are you one of those people?"

"I said some people."

* * *

It's finally Friday, _TGIF_ , thinks Holly as she finally gets home from work, "honey! I'm h-" She stops as she sees Gail and some random man standing in their kitchen. _Don't say Gail, don't say Gail,_ Holly tells herself. "Gladys, who's this?" _Smooth,_ Holly congratulates herself.


	13. Chapter 13

It's finally Friday, _TGIF_ , thinks Holly as she finally gets home from work, "honey! I'm h-" She stops as she sees Gail and some random man standing in their kitchen. _Don't say Gail, don't say Gail,_ Holly tells herself. "Gladys, who's this?" _Smooth,_ Holly congratulates herself.

"It's okay Holly, this is my brother Steve," Gail makes the introduction.

Steve sticks out his hand for Holly to shake, "pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise," says Holly, not sure how much Gail has told Steve about them, she maintains her distance and stays near the opening of the kitchen. Now that she's closer, she thinks she recognizes Steve, seen him around crime scenes and what not, she thinks she remembers him being nice. "What brings you here?"

"Just checking in, make sure you two are all right, and make sure this one-" points to Gail, "has been behaving herself." Steve laughs at his joke.

Holly doesn't know how to respond, whether she should be offended or not, so she doesn't, Gail does instead, "I see you came alone, have you not been behaving with Traci?"

Steve laughs, "she wanted to come, her and Leo, but she had to work, and we didn't want to risk putting them in danger too."

Gail nods her head. Holly, seeing that the siblings need to talk, excuses herself, "I think I'm going to go take a nap." Holly heads outside, going straight to her favourite napping spot, happy to have some peace and quiet after her long and unusually loud day at school.

"Why are you here?" asks Gail, "what's your story?"

"I'm here to visit my sister."

Gail nods her head, "yeah, that sounds like something normal families would do."

"You don't think we're a normal family?"

"I mean-" starts Gail.

"You know what, don't answer that," smiles Steve.

"If you're going about town, introducing yourself as my brother, you're going to need a new name."

Steve thinks about it for a second before he nods his head. "I think you're right, I need a new name. What do you think?"

"I always thought you looked a bit like a Stanley," Gail helpfully suggests.

"Stanley?" questions Steve. "I was thinking more like Sterling," he says kind of wistfully.

"You can't pull off Sterling. How about Sean?"

"How about Shawn?"

"That's what I said."

"No, you said S-E-A-N. I'm saying Shawn with an H and a W."

"You're annoying," states Gail.

"You've missed me."

Gail sighs and ignores the last comment, "while you're here you will be Smith."

"I like that," agrees Steve, "a last name as a first name."

Gail rolls her eyes.

"Want a hug?" asks Steve.

"What for?" questions Gail, with a confused look on her face.

* * *

Gail went out and got some take out to bring back to the safe house for dinner for the three of them. Steve volunteered to clean up their used dishes while the women went into the family room to relax. Holly immediately lies down on the couch; Gail picks up Holly's feet and rests them in her lap. Steve walks into the room, he sees Gail lightly massaging Holly's feet. "Whoa!" he declares, "is Gail Peck willingly touching someone?"

Gail opens her mouth to say something back, but all Holly can think is, _Peck….Peck. Where have I heard that name before?_ She tunes back in to hear Gail say "so there" and give Holly a sheepish grin. _Uh oh, what did I miss_ , as she looks at Steve who's smiling at the two of them. _Does he know? Is it okay for him to know?_

"The weekend's tomorrow, what do you guys usually do on the weekend?" Steve wonders.

"We clean the house," states Gail. "We want to see if we can do all our house chores in under an hour."

"We've been getting pretty good at it," interjects Holly.

"County life's been treating you good Gail," jokes Steve. "I don't ever remembering you willingly clean in the city."

"Not that I didn't clean in Toronto, it's just…ya know…living with two messy boys, it felt like whenever I cleaned something, it would always be messy right after."

"Ha!" laughs Steve, "what a great excuse. You were an equal part of the mess as the boys were."

Gail looks rather sheepish...again. "I don't mind a little bit of mess," says Holly, "as long as it's an organized mess."

"Nerd," Gail mumbles. "Why are you here again?" asks Gail, "in Moonbeam," she clarifies.

Steve thinking Gail means Holly answers, "she was testifying against someone in court when she started to receive threats. What do you guys talk about?" questions Steve.

"Oh," says Gail, kind of confused at where the conversation has turned to, but continues none the less, "but why does a doctor have a file at the police station?"

"She's a pathologist, a forensic pathologist," clarifies Steve, "seriously, what do you guys talk about?" He looks between the two. "Well I'm going to bed; I'll take the spare room."

"It's just a couch in there," informs Gail.

"I'll make do," assures Steve.

* * *

Holly and Gail woke first and are sitting at the kitchen table reading the newspaper. Holly done reading, moves her chair next to Gail's so she can rest her head on Gail's shoulder. "What do you want to do today?" asks Holly.

Gail not paying attention in the least, barely moving her eyes off the paper, gives a very broad answer, "I don't know…you…"

Holly smiles and says, "yeah, we can do that," she lifts her head from Gail's shoulder and grabs Gail's chin with her finger and thumb and directs Gail's face towards hers. Holly brings their lips together, quickly dropping one, two, three kisses on Gail's lips. Gail hums into the kiss, getting lost in the contact and close proximity of Holly. Gail lick Holly's bottom lip, Holly smiles into the kiss. They quickly pull away when they hear Steve coming down the stairs, giving each other a safe distance.

"I don't know what you were so afraid of last night, that couch in the spare room is a pull out," says Steve.

"Holly said it wasn't."

"That explains why you two sleep together," giving Gail an opening to maybe say more.

"Yes," says Gail.

Steve senses his sister isn't going to say much more concludes, "either way, the bed is super comfy. Also, it's super handy that you guys have multiple toothbrushes out in the bathroom."

"Pardon?" asks Holly.

"Those tooth brushes are for anyone right?" asks Steve. "Kind of like take a penny leave a penny, don't worry I put it back."

"Uh, what?" asks a somewhat concerned Holly, afraid Steve may have used her toothbrush. Oral hygiene is very important.

"I was only joking," cracks up Steve, "can't take a joke, come on little sis, she's been living with you for several months and she can't take a joke?"

"No, she can," insists Gail, "watch this."

"Don't say it," warns Holly shaking her head.

"Say what?" Wonders Steve as Gail opens her mouth.

"Don't you dare," glares Holly.

* * *

After a very successful morning of cleaning the house, the three find themselves eating pizza in the kitchen for lunch. Steve snaps his fingers and says, "before I forget again." Steve then informs the women about Holly's parent's house being searched through by unknown people. Gail shakes her head at how insensitive the Pecks can be when sharing crucial information, knowing that she has totally done that too over the years.

Holly, completely distraught, goes upstairs to lie down.

"What the fuck!" exclaims Gail as she smacks her brother. "Couldn't you have told her a little nicer, or maybe tell me and I could have told her."

"Why would it matter if the bad news came from me or you?" Steve sets Gail up again, but to no avail.

Gail shakes her head at her brother and follows Holly's path upstairs to their bedroom. She finds Holly lying on the bed. Gail lies next to her and Holly immediately curls around Gail resting her head on Gail's chest. Gail rubs soothing circles on Holly's back. So many thoughts run through Holly's head, _is it my fault that mom and dad's house was broken into, are they okay, what were the people looking for, probably me, but did they find anything that could lead them to me…the letter…shit_ , Holly thinks. Holly drifts to sleep. Steve wants to check on them and apologize. He enters the bedroom and finds the two all cozy. He smiles to himself seeing the look of pure Zen on Gail's face; he gets his phone from his pocket and snaps a picture. The sound awakens Gail. He's about to snap another one when he looks over at the two and sees Gail glaring at him. He smiles guiltily and darts out of the room.

Gail finds Steve in the kitchen, "what are you going to do with that picture?" Steve kind of shrugs his shoulders. "Personally, I think you should delete it, we wouldn't want it to get in the wrong hands."

"Wrong hands eh?" Steve smiles.

Gail glares. "But first send me a copy."

Steve nods his head, not wanting to compromise his sister's safety with one careless picture; he deletes the picture after sending it to Gail. "We should go out tonight, hit the town."

"Have you walked through town? There really isn't much to hit."

"I know, but I kind of want to meet some of the people up here, see if there all above board, you know, scout it for myself."

"Don't think I can do my job?"

"I didn't say that. Two sets of professionally Peck trained eyes are better than one," Steve insists.

"Okay," Gail agrees, "I don't know about Holly though, if she'll want to join us."

* * *

That night, Gail, Holly, and Steve went to the local bar, as soon as Gail walks through the door, "Gladys!"

"Wow" mouths Steve to the ladies, kind of stunned at the extremely warm reception his little sister received. Gail smacks him to get him to snap out of it. Steve chuckles quietly as he regains his composure. Gail raises her hand to give a little wave to some of the neighbours as she guides Holly and Steve to the bar where they each take a bar stool. Steve immediately swings his around to survey everyone in the bar. Happy with what he sees, he turns back around and sees a beer already in front of him. "Thanks," he nods to Gail. Gail takes a sip of her beer and Holly takes a sip of her Ginger Ale. "Next round's on me," he declares.

Steve questions the ladies on who the people in the bar are, both filling him in on little tid bits of information about their neighbours. Dorothy walks over to the three, "How's it going Gladys and Heather?"

"Pretty good thanks," answers Holly.

"Who's this?" Dorothy questions.

"This is my brother Smith," responds Gail.

"Ah." Dorothy nods her head. "I see the resemblance. Did you guys want to join our table over there?" She points to a table where Dan's seated along with Jack and Erin.

"Um, no we're good," Gail turns her down.

"Thanks," Holly steps in when she sees the look of hurt on Dorothy's face, "but we haven't seen Gladys' brother in forever and we're happy catching up."

Dorothy smiles, "family's important," she agrees. "If you guys change your mind, come join us."

Dorothy heads back to her table, Gail says, "that's our nosey neighbour. She talks a lot, but she means well."

Steve laughs. "Busy making friends."

"I have enough friends," says Gail.

"Is there anyone here you don't trust?" asks Steve in a hushed voice.

Gail shrugs her shoulders and says, "depends what day of the week it is."

Steve nods his head, "good idea. Suspect everyone, and when nothing bad happens you get pleasantly surprised."

Holly shakes her head at the two Pecks, still feeling they are completely safe in Moonbeam and no one is out to get them.

Steve buys the next round and a beer appears in front of Holly. Luckily Holly's still nursing her pop, so she doesn't have to touch the pint yet. Gail sees and begins to quickly drink her beer so she can stealthily take Holly's and drink hers. Gail and Holly take turns telling Steve what it's like living in Moonbeam, the more fun things they've done, and their trip to Winnipeg.

After another hour Gail begins to question Steve on how everyone back home is doing. Holly, feeling tired says, "I think I'm going to call it a night."

"I'll go to," says Gail.

"No, you stay with your brother."

"I'll at least walk you home."

"No, I'll be fine, have fun honey," Holly leans in and gives Gail's cheek a kiss. Holly leaves the bar.

Steve smiles at the two's interactions, "she's nice, I like her."

"Yeah," says a blushing Gail. "I like her too."

"I can tell," says Steve as he orders the two of them a couple of tequila shots and another pint each.

* * *

When Gail gets back, Holly's reading a book in bed. Gail lies on her back looking up at the ceiling with wide open eyes, thinking, turning things over in her head. "So…" Gail breaks the silence, "you're a forensic pathologist…"

Holly hums in acceptance, continuing to read her book. "Is that a problem?"

"No, not really, I just thought you were a doctor doctor."

Holly scrunches her brows, "I am a doctor doctor."

"No I mean, I thought you were a doctor doctor."

"You're just repeating yourself now."

Gail sighs in frustration, maybe she shouldn't have had that last beer, maybe she shouldn't be bringing all this up right now when all she really wants to do is sleep. "I know you're a doctor doctor, I just didn't realize you were affiliated with the police force, is all."

"Is that a problem?"

"No, no. It's just…"

Holly closes her book and sighs, "is this because I work with dead bodies?"

"No," Gail answers truthfully.

"Is it because I'm" Holly uses finger quotes, '"not reaching my full potential.'"

"What?! No."

"What's the matter then?" Holly questions, starting to get slightly frazzled.

"Nothing, it's just, you seem to recognize my brother and I was just wondering why we haven't run into each other is all," Gail confesses shyly.

"Oh," Holly says quietly. "Maybe…" Holly pauses because she truthfully doesnt know. "I don't know…"

Gail thinks for a second staring into Holly's dark brown eyes. "I like the way we met tho," Gail leans over to give Holly a kiss, "night nerd."

Gail's head hits the pillow and ten seconds later Holly can hear the blonde snoring lightly. Holly smiles to herself as she runs her fingers through Gail's hair. "Me too."

* * *

when your plans fall through on what to do next, and you essentially decide, you know what? i'm going to make a quilt...geeze eh


	14. Chapter 14

It's been three weeks since Steve left, since then Holly's belly has popped. Things have been going great with Holly and Gail. It's already October and the two have been invited to Thanksgiving at Dorothy and Dan's this weekend. _Five more months_ , Holly thinks to herself as her belly bumps into the stove. She smiles to herself.

Gail walks into the kitchen and sees Holly's stirring something on the stove. Gail comes up behind her and snakes her arms around Holly's waist and places her hand on Holly's baby bump. "Whatcha doing?" Gail begins to sway the two of them, resting her chin on Holly's shoulder.

"Making dinner."

"Watcha making?" Gail kisses Holly's shoulder.

"Stew."

Gail sniffs, "it smells good."

"That's good," Holly smiles. Gail starts to rub Holly's belly. Holly's surprised with how well Gail is dealing with everything. Holly was completely afraid that once her belly popped, that it would make the whole pregnancy extremely real…visible, which it did, but she was afraid that Gail would push her away and not want to have anything to do with her and a baby. But that didn't happen, thankfully, and Holly feels terrible for having these doubts about Gail. Holly was surprised how much of a big help Gail has been with her, going to the doctor appointments, planning balanced meals, scheduling after school naps for Holly…and Gail, but what surprised Holly the most was how much more Gail started touching Holly, especially her stomach. "You like doing that eh."

"Doing what?" questions Gail, who isn't really paying attention, just enjoying having Holly in her arms and not really doing much, just standing there smelling delicious aromas.

Holly smiles again, "rubbing my baby bump."

"Oh," says Gail straightening up, stilling her hand and stopping the swaying. Gail wonders if she over stepped, is she not to touch Holly and her baby bump.

"Don't stop," insists Holly, "I like it."

"Okay," Gail says cautiously, but continues to just stand there behind Holly.

Holly starts to sway them again as she continues to stir the stew, "I was afraid that once my belly popped it would change our relationship, but it didn't and I like you paying so much attention to…me. I didn't think this is what I wanted, I had told myself that I was going to raise this baby on my own and not care about dating, that the baby would come first, but you came into my life at a perfect time and I really enjoy having you in it."

Gail turns Holly around, "I really like having you in my life too and will continue to stay in your life for as long as you want, and-" Gail pauses, "I truly look forward to meeting this little one." Gail places her hand over Holly's stomach again.

Holly blushes, "good, cause I want you to meet him…or her."

"Good, 'cause I look forward to meeting her…or him."

* * *

*Beep* Gail's alarm goes off, she's about to hit snooze when she hears, "don't."

"Don't hwhat," Gail mumbles into her pillow, barely turning her head to address Holly.

"Don't go back to sleep."

"It's okay," says Gail with her eyes still closed, "five more minutes, then I'll leave."

"Not what I meant," says Holly as she leans over and kisses Gail on the lips.

Gail opens her eyes slightly as she sees Holly leaning in to kiss her again. This time Gail's ready as she eagerly responds to Holly's kiss. Holly guides Gail on to her back and quickly sits atop Gail. She leans down to continue to kiss Gail. Gail realizes what's happening and places a hand on Holly's chest to slightly push her back, "wait. Wait. I have to go to work."

Holly looks at the clock, "you don't have to be there for another hour."

"Yeah, but I have to get changed and have some breakfast, and coffee Holly, I need my coffee," Gail can't believe what she's saying, trying to avoid sex, well maybe not avoid, but postpone. Postpone's a better word.

Holly chuckles, Gail and her food, she leans down again and kisses Gail with everything she's got, she hears Gail sigh into the kiss and knows she's said everything she didn't need to say. She pulls back slightly with a smug grin on her face as she watches Gail slowly open her eyes.

"Okay," says a convinced Gail. "But, it has to be fast."

"I can work with that," smiles Holly.

* * *

Holly's in the staff room and one of the teachers says, "so he compliments my handwriting and I say 'I did have to pass a handwriting course to graduate teacher's college.'"

The staff room bursts into laughter. Holly's confused, _is that a thing?_ She thinks. _If so why don't doctors take it?_

Holly doesn't get it, some of the teacher's jokes aren't that funny, but they all carry on like they're watching a stand up routine. Holly sighs, and looks at the calendar. _Two more months,_ she thinks, _two more months, and then I'll be back home in Toronto working in my lab, damn I miss the autopsy room. Is that weird?... Nah._ Holly assures herself.

* * *

That night Holly's making some notes for tomorrow's class and Gail looks over her shoulder, "you surprisingly have nice handwriting."

"In order to graduate teacher's college I had to pass a hand writing class."

Gail raises an eyebrow. "Is that an actual class?"

"I don't know. I never went to teacher's college. I'm a doctor remember."

"If there is a handwriting class, doctors should take it, the amount of times I've misread autopsy and forensic reports," Gail raises her eyebrows.

"That's what I thought," says an annoyed Holly.

"Whoa, what's wrong?"

"I don't know, I don't know if I can do this anymore. Being a teacher is hard, and I don't get their jokes, and I feel like I'm barely treading above water, and I'm only one month into the year. I just want to go home."

"It's okay, let's just calm down," Gail rubs Holly's back. "Why don't you take a break for a bit? It will be alright…"

"Think Gail, think. I have all of this stuff to do, marking and lesson planning," Holly kind of ruffles the papers in front of her, "and the lawn needs cutting at least one more time this season, we need to get all the vegetables from the garden before the frost ruins them, it's recycling this week, the bins need to be at the side of the road, I need to go shopping soon because my clothing," Holly pulls on her shirt and pants, "are getting a little snug -"

"Whoa, whoa," Gail watches Holly go into a full spiral about all the various things that need to be done, "take a breather, let's wait a second and think this through." Gail takes Holly's hands. "How about this, I will sort the recycling and take it to the road," Holly nods her head as she visibly takes big gulps of air, "and I have no trouble mowing the lawn, I know the doctor says you can continue to mow the lawn until your body says 'no', but I'll do it." Holly nods her head, happy to have Gail willingly help her, help them. "And, I don't mind going shopping with you, if you want the company."

Holly takes a few deep breaths, realizing that Gail will willingly help her, even though Holly still wants to be somewhat independent and hold her own. "Thanks honey."

"Anytime…" Gail squeezes Holly's hands. Gail closes her eyes and inwardly sighs, happy to help Holly avert whatever crisis was building in her head.

"Gail?"

Gail opens her eyes to look at Holly. She sees a big smile on her face, "oh God," Gail groans, "no more old people voices," complains Gail.

"What, no."

"Why are you smiling then?" wonders Gail.

"I just like saying your name."

Gail smiles, "I like hearing you say my name."

"Good," Holly smiles her lop sided smile.

* * *

Holly nuzzles her nose into Gail's neck, Gail smiles, _I could get use to this,_ she thinks. This is the third time this week Holly has woken up before Gail and then woke Gail up in the best possible way. Gail extracts herself from a slumbering Holly. Gail checks to make sure the second alarm will go off in an hour for Holly to officially start her day. Gail leans over the bed to place one last kiss on Holly's head before she goes to the bathroom to take a quick shower. _How did I get so lucky?_ she thinks.

Gail was fine going to Moonbeam on her own, all by herself, knowing no one. She was happy to lay low for a while until the heat died down in Toronto, and there weren't people out to get her. She was fine being Gladys Gilbert, she laughs in her head. She was fine with the idea of having no one to really talk to or no one to share this experience with. Then Holly appeared, just strolling in from the backyard. At first Gail wasn't too sure about the idea, but one thing she learned from being a police officer was the ability to adapt to new circumstances, and damn she's happy she did.

 _This could have been a lot harder if I was with someone else,_ she thinks, not for the first time and certainty not for the last.

* * *

It's the Friday before the long weekend; Gail has one last stop on her route, Mrs. Crane's house. As soon as Mrs. Crane sees Gail's mail carrier truck she immediately opens her front door and starts waving towards Gail to flag her down. Gail forces a smile and waves back; _maybe if I pretend to think she's just being friendly I won't have to see what she wants._

"Oh Gladys," Mrs. Crane calls.

 _Damn,_ thinks Gail. "Yes?"

"I need you to bring in my potted plants, we're expecting frost tonight."

"No problem Mrs. Crane."

Gail helps move Mrs. Crane's plants into the garage. Mrs. Crane notices Gail looks a little tired, "your eyes are like diamonds."

"Thanks," responds Gail.

"Baseball diamonds, there's a bag in every corner." Mrs. Crane starts to laugh at her own joke, while Gail glares at her. "We used to tell each other those kinds of sayings when we were kids." Mrs. Crane continues to laugh.

Gail says, "your teeth are like stars," Mrs. Crane grins and nods her head, knowing what comes next, "they come out at night."

"I knew I liked you, want a beer, you look like you've had a rough week." Gail looks at her questioningly. "Oh come on," assures Mrs. Crane, "I'm not that bad, plus it's the long weekend, you don't have to work until Tuesday."

"Okay," answers Gail, "but just one, let me call Heather to tell her I'll be home a bit later."

Mrs. Crane smiles, "good, come on in when you're done, and I'll grab the beers."

Gail and Mrs. Crane each have a beer, sitting on the front porch watching one of the farmers plow their field. "I used to drive one of those tractors," says Mrs. Crane.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yup. My father wasn't too impressed, but I figured it needed to get done, so I did it. Him and my brothers were busy with something else, and I knew how to drive the machine, so I figured I'd help."

"Do you miss it?"

"No. I only did it the once. My late husband owned a fair amount of acreage, but we always had help to till the fields and what not. Our son used to help before he got his _big time fancy_ job, married his wife, and stopped helping us. Pfft," she says still kind of bitter.

Gail laughs nervously, and notices the sun shining off of her mail car, "shit! I need to return that!" Mrs. Crane laughs at her. "Thanks for the beer." Gail jumps up getting ready to leave.

"No problem, this was….nice," says Mrs. Crane.

"Uh, yeah it was," Gail agrees slightly shocked. Gail starts walking down the steps of the porch; she turns around and asks, "do you have any plans for Thanksgiving?"

"Probably not, my son used to invite me every year, but since I never went he stopped inviting me."

"Oh," says Gail. "Well if you want to, you can join Heather and I at our neighbour's house. I'm sure they won't mind."

"That's very nice dear. Thank you."

"So see you on Sunday?"

"We'll see how I feel."

"Okay, well good night Mrs. Crane."

"Good night Gladys."

* * *

Little Eve opens the door to Gail and Holly, "you guys came!" she squeals and hugs them. After she hugs Holly she looks at her, noticing Holly didn't feel the same, she places a hand on Holly's stomach, and gasps eyes wide open. Holly smiles and takes Gail's hand.

"Mom!" Evey calls, "the guests are here! Gladys and I are going out back; she's going to push me on the swings."

Dorothy comes to the door, "you don't have to," she assures Gail.

"It's okay; I could use the fresh air."

Dorothy smiles as she watches Gail and Eve walk through the house to get to the backyard. "She's a keeper," Dorothy tells Holly.

"Yeah," says Holly, mostly to herself.

Dorothy then notices Holly's holding a dish, "you didn't have to bring anything."

"It's home grown beans, we had too many in our garden for us to eat, so I figured that I would cook some up and bring them today."

"Thank you, that's very kind of you," Dorothy says. They walk through to the kitchen where it is very aromatic, the smell of turkey in the oven, and cranberries boiling on the stove, what could be better? "Everything's done in here; we just have to wait for it to cook, should we join everyone outside?"

"If there's nothing that needs to be done," agrees Holly, following Dorothy outdoors. "Is anyone else coming today?"

"No, I invited Keith and Stacy, but they were going to his family's house and I invited Jack and Erin, but apparently they were going to her family's, she told me where, but I can't recall. But then I thought I saw them at their house earlier today and I thought she had said they were going away for the weekend," Dorothy kind of shrugs her shoulders. "So just you and Gladys, we'll have fun without them anyways," Dorothy grins.

"Hey Heather!" Dan waves from the grass where he is playing catch with his sons. He throws the ball to Tom and walks over, "Gladys said to give you the greeting hug instead." Holly rolls her eyes, and opens her arms. Dan hugs her, pulls back with a smile on his face. "Does Dorothy know?"

"Does Dorothy know what?" questions Dorothy.

"Did you give Heather a hug?"

"No?"

"You should," suggests Dan. Gail's observing everything from the swing set with a huge smile on her face as she sees Holly open her arms up again this time for Dorothy.

Dorothy squeals almost immediately as she then presses her hand to Holly's abdomen. "Oh my God!" She looks over at Gail, back to Holly, "congratulations!"

"Thanks," says Holly. Happy to finally tell someone besides Gail that she's pregnant, "I'm pregnant!" _Man that feels weird to say,_ she thinks.

"How far along are you?"

"I'm nineteen weeks pregnant." Holly looks over at Gail catching her eye. Gail signs and mouths 'you're beautiful.' Holly beams at her.

"Perfect time for Thanksgiving then, I remember being around the twenty week mark and I was pretty much always hungry. And how are you feeling?" Dorothy asks worriedly.

"Great," says Holly. "It was a little rough at first, but now things have definitely settled down. And yes, I'm excited for plenty of food today."

"Have you felt any movements?" wonders Dorothy.

"No," sighs Holly, who seems to be getting impatient on this topic, desperately wanting to feel her baby move, "but I'm sure any day now, I'm so eager to feel the baby move."

"At first you'll like it but by the end the novelty wears off, believe me after four kids, I was telling the baby to 'settle down in there, let mommy sleep'," Dorothy laughs. "Well that's great," Dorothy smiles, "I'm so happy for you."

"Thanks."

"If there's anything we can do to help," offers Dorothy.

"There actually might be," says Holly, "I've been trying to find a child birthing class in town, I know I know, it's a small town and I might have to go to the 'city' but I was hoping for something close by."

Dorothy smiles, "actually if you want Ms. Dunn and I used to run a child birthing class a couple of years ago in the community center section at the library, if you want I can ask her if we can use that space. We stopped because there was a lull in people having babies in our community, but if we can find at least two more couples we can help."

"Oh you don't have to," insists Holly.

"I would love to," persists Dorothy.

"I don't want to force you into anything."

"You're not, plus Ms. Dunn might say no anyways."

"Well, okay," says Holly. "It won't be for at least another month though."

"That's perfect, it allows me time to find my old material," smiles Dorothy.

"Higher!" squeals Eve on the swings, Gail obliges, pushing the little girl higher.

"Oh, I hope you don't mind but I invited Mrs. Crane to Thanksgiving dinner," says Gail.

Dan looks at her confused, "you invited my mom to Thanksgiving dinner?"

"Mrs. Cranky is your mom?"

Dan laughs, "you call her Mrs. Cranky?"

"Why doesn't she have the same last name as you?" Gail completely ignores his question. "I mean, I practically know everyone's last name in this town being the mail carrier…"

"What's my last name?" asks Eve on the swing.

"It's the same as your mom and dad's," answers Gail.

Eve gasps, completely in awe, "it is!"

Dan smiles at his daughter, "after my dad passed away, she returned to her maiden name…for whatever reason," he shakes his head.

"People are funny, eh."

"You can say that again."

"She mentioned she had a son, but she didn't say who." Gail realizing that she may have over stepped says, "I can uninvite her."

"You don't have to, I'm sure she wont come anyways."

"Okay," says Gail.

"Higher!" shrieks Eve.

* * *

Thanks for reading

Thanks Turtle


	15. Chapter 15

Mrs. Crane didn't show up for Thanksgiving dinner. Dan wasn't surprised, however he insisted that Gail drop off a plate of leftovers for his mom the next day, which Gail did. Gail and Holly went out shopping for maternity wear the next chance they got. They found multiple items for Holly that would fit her now and for the next little while, depending on how fast her belly grows. They also bought her other clothes for down the road, in case they don't have time later to go shopping again. Gail was able to slip away at some point to purchase a Halloween costume for Holly and herself, she laughs to herself remembering the costume that she found for Holly. After a long afternoon of shopping the two are ready to go back to Moonbeam.

Holly says, "here, hold my coat while I use the washroom." Holly throws her coat at Gail and enters the public bathroom.

Gail stands against the wall waiting outside the bathroom, waiting as patiently as she can, after shopping for a couple of hours, standing around helping Holly choose outfits, Gail has reached that fine line between patiently being polite and bored out of her mind. Gail switches her weight from foot to foot, as she places her one foot on the wall, and changes her position a third, fourth, and fifth time. On the sixth time something somewhat falls out of Holly's coat. _What's this?_ she realizes that the coat has a mini bag attached to it. _I wonder what that's for?_ Gail decides that if she squishes the coat enough the coat may fit into the tiny bag. Gail tests her theory. A few seconds after Gail is done shoving the coat in the bag, massive grin on her face, pretty pleased with herself, Holly emerges from the bathroom. "Where's my coat?" Gail tosses the bag at Holly. "I was only in there for a couple of minutes, what am I going to do with you" Gail shrugs her shoulders trying to act all innocent and Holly shakes her head, "let's get going, I'm tired."

Gail grabs Holly's hand as the two walk out of the store and to the car, "where'd you get that coat? It's nifty."

Holly laughs, "you can borrow it soon enough, it won't fit me much longer."

* * *

Holly's in the kitchen using up some old bananas, making muffins, which totally worked out perfectly since Holly had a craving for banana chocolate chip muffins anyways. Gail walks into the kitchen and jumps on to the counter to sit and talk to Holly. "So…" she starts.

"So…" Holly echoes, knowing full well that this conversation with Gail could be anything.

Gail nervously says, "I know we kind of had this conversation earlier, but I don't think either of us were really ready for it," Holly scrunches up her face, not really sure what Gail is referring to. Gail continues to watch Holly add ingredients to the mixing bowl, reading the recipe, and fiddling with her glasses. Gail goes for it, "so, you're a middle child…"

"Oh," Holly stops stirring, she completely understands now, they tried talking about their families, but that was when they first met, and they didn't know how long they would be staying here or how much they wanted to really share with the other. "You want to talk about our families," Holly prods, Gail nods her head, "uh, yeah, we can do that," Holly seems to say somewhat reluctantly, as she goes back to stirring the dry ingredients together, not ready to add the wet ingredients just yet. "What do you, um, want to know?"

Gail picks up on Holly's body language, the way her shoulders tensed, the way she stuttered in her baking, the way her voice sounds. "We don't have to," insists Gail, feeling Holly get protective. "I just thought that now we are together together, not just pretending," both Holly and Gail wince at the word, "but it's okay. We don't have to…" Gail trails off, not wanting to make Holly uncomfortable, readying herself to hop off the counter and go find something, anything, else to do then stay in this state of awkwardness.

Holly sighs, realizing Gail's right. She rushes over to stand in front of Gail, knowing she does want to share with Gail. "No, stay," she places her hands on Gail's thighs. "I'm sorry; I just got so used to not sharing and…" Holly pauses for a second, looks Gail in her crystal blue eyes, "I have an older brother named Walter, but I like to call him altar because he's been married three times already," she can't help the jab at her older brother as she smiles and Gail reflects her smile. Gail opens her legs so Holly can stand closer and Gail wraps them around Holly's torso. "I have a little sister named Yvette, she has not been married three times," Holly laughs. "Walter currently lives with his third wife Tiffany, and their toddler son Noah, he's a cutie. Walter works at some IT firm helping develop some software stuff, while Tiffany is a tattoo artist, that's how they met, he went in to get a tattoo of himself, I think he said he lost a bet to our younger sister, I have no clue what the bet was, but it worked out for Walter and Tiffany, and I guess the rest is history. She's really good for him. They live fairly close to my parents, who are Charlie and Joyce. I think I mentioned we are all pretty close," Gail nods her head remembering Holly had said that they try to spend as much time together as they can. "They were waiting to visit me in Toronto, they were letting me get settled in fist and then this happened," Holly circles her arms around to indicate their surroundings and rests them back on Gail's thighs where she has trouble keeping her hands still rubbing circles on Gail's thighs with her thumbs, "and by the time they get to Toronto they're going to have someone else to meet."

Gail's not sure if Holly means her or the baby, but Gail's happy regardless. "So…" Gail starts.

"Yes?"

"Walter, Holly, and Yvette."

"Don't say it," warns Holly.

"Why?" questions Gail, with a bogus look of confusion on her face, knowing full well what she did. Holly grumbles and laughs as she taps Gail's legs to get her to release her hold so she can go back to baking. Gail leans down and kisses Holly on the nose, then releases her hold. "Thanks."

* * *

Gail stayed in the kitchen talking to Holly, learning that Holly's sister Yvette is a cop in Quebec City and her parents still work, they talked about nothing and everything, that's what seems to be so great about them, their ability to tell each other anything, while Holly finished mixing the muffin batter together. Holly gives the mixing bowl and spatula to Gail to lick. Holly quickly realizes this was a great idea as she watches Gail lick the spatula to taste the batter. Holly can't focus on the simple clean up of measuring cups and whisks as she continues to stare at Gail and her wonderful tongue. She shakes her head to get rid of the fog in her head, realizing that it's not working.

"Holly." Gail calls. Holly shakes her head again, her cheeks reddening. "What is my beautiful pregnant girlfriend thinking?"

Holly smiles her lop sided smile, "you, always you." Gail gives her a toothy smile and laughs heartily.

* * *

Gail's lying on the couch, all spread out; ready for Holly to come back from the washroom so they can continue their Mario Kart duel. Holly's pregnancy keeps getting more and more visible with her baby bump continuing to grow. No hiding the pregnancy now. She walks along the couch tracing her fingers lightly over Gail's flat stomach and across her ribs. Holly sighs. "I'm envious of your belly," she says as Gail sits up so Holly can sit down.

"Why? You're beautiful," Gail says truthfully.

Holly blushes. "Ya think?"

"I know," assures Gail, "and you're only going to get more beautiful."

"Okay," says Holly, huge smile on her face, as she resumes the race, all the reassurance she needed, for now.

* * *

Holly and Gail go to the local bar; Holly is sitting on Gail's right side with her left hand on Gail's thigh. Some man, neither of them recognize, walks up and asks Holly in French, "Vous venez ici souvent?"

Gail's eyes shoot wide open, _is Holly being hit on?_ she thinks. Holly shakes her head at the man, not fully sure what he's asking, but understanding the gist of it. "No."

"Are you drunk?" asks Gail with a bit of laughter in her voice, but slightly peeved. Being a small town, and everyone knowing everyone, everyone knows that Holly and Gail are married, well Gladys and Heather are.

The man answers looking at Holy, "Je ne suis pas saoul, je suis juste ivre de vous."

Gail laughs, Holly looks at her for a translation, completely puzzled. "I thought you said you spoke French."

Holly shrugs her shoulders, "I said I'm from Montreal, I don't believe I ever said I spoke French. There's a really big English speaking population there."

Gail gasps, "so you lied to me?!" she fakes being upset. "What else have you lied about?" continues to pretend. "How bout our vows, were those real?"

"Oh don't be like that honey," Holly plays back, rubbing Gail's arm.

The man now looks puzzled, "vows" he mumbles, "honey," he scrunches up his face. In flawless English, "I'll leave you two alone."

"I think you better," Gail picks up Holly's left hand and kisses the wedding ring in front of the man. The man quickly turns around and leaves.

"What was that all about?" wonders Holly.

"Not sure," answers Gail.

The two laugh. "What was he saying?" questions Holly.

"First he asked if you came here often."

Holly nods her head, "I thought so."

"Then he said he was intoxicated by you."

"Whoa, smooth talker eh."

"Ha," Gail laughs, "totally." Holly leans in and gives Gail a kiss on the cheek.

"Ready to go?"

"I thought we were meeting Dan, Dorothy, Keith, Stacey, Evan, and Ellie…"

"Oh yeah," says Holly, shaking her head, "whoops!"

Gail smiles and kisses Holly, shaking her head, "lucky your heads attached…"

Holly playfully pushes Gail.

* * *

Gail and Holly are seated at a table with the rest of their neighbours. Dorothy is practically bouncing in her chair. "Tell them Stacey." Stacey looks nervous. "Come on Stacey, they'll be just as happy as the rest of us," Dorothy insists.

Stacey looks at Keith, who gives a slight shrug. "We have an announcement to make," she starts. She once again looks at Keith, like she's waiting for him to jump in or something. "I'm pregnant, we're pregnant," she smiles.

The table erupts into "congratulations!" Ellie gets up to give Stacey a hug, Keith shakes Dan's hand, Dorothy is still way too excited. She looks over at Holly, by now the rest of the neighbours and community have heard that Mrs. Gilbert the science teacher is pregnant, "you know what this means?" Holly shakes her head, not following Dorothy's train of thought. "We need one more couple and I can teach the birthing course," Dorothy claps her hands excitedly.

"Yes," agrees Stacey. "This was the perfect timing, eh?" she addresses Gail.

Gail kind of shrugs her shoulders, "I guess…"

"We should celebrate," declares Evan. "Heather and Stacey are pregnant! A round of shots!" Evan scrunches up his face, "wait," he pauses for a second, "a round of shots for the rest of us, not for you two." He gets up and goes to the bar, Gail thinks she overhears Evan saying 'Alien's Exist by blink 182', she shrugs her shoulders and focuses her attention back to the group. The rest continue to give their happy sentiments to Keith and Stacey.

Keith and Gail volunteer to get the first round of drinks after they partake in Evan's shot. The bar tender demands, "name a song about aliens."

"My Alien by Simple Plan," Keith answers easily.

The bartender looks at Gail; Gail looks completely confused, _why is he asking this question_ , "Um…Starlight by Muse?"

The bartender looks at the two, "okay, I'll accept those two songs; however that Muse one is totally up to interpretation. Next round you guys better have better songs than those ones."

* * *

"What have you found out about the letter?"

"Well, once we realized we weren't getting any information from the contents of the letter, we realized that maybe we could back track this letter, see where it was originally sent from. My guy from the post office hasn't had the time to track it down yet. But he should be able to tell me where it was sent from by using that orange bar code."

The guy nods his head, "I'm giving you a week. This should have been done days after we got the letter. None of this 'reading between the lines' bull shit with what Dr. Holly wrote," he shakes his head, using air quotes, so upset with his coworker for not realizing the ability to track the letter faster. "We need to get moving on this, what if she moves again, and then we'll never find her."

"Sorry," said with sad puppy dog eyes that go to no avail.

"I don't want to hear sorry, I want results," he shakes his head, visibly angry. Completely frustrated with this whole situation, why did he pass the letter off, if he had looked at it himself he's positive he would have figured out the ability to trace it back to where it was sent from sooner. He shakes his head again, completely peeved.

* * *

Gail was observing Keith and Stacey. Stacey is truly happy, Keith looks happy but confused. He gives a half hearted chuckle to Dan's joke, while the rest of the table erupts in laughter. Gail decides to see what's bothering Keith.

Gail sees that everyone's drinks are just about done. "I'll get the next round," Gail volunteers, "Keith, help me?" she not so subtly asks/states.

"Uh…sure." He gets up out of his seat and heads to the bar with Gail.

"So, what's up?"

"What do you mean?" Keith tries to deflect.

Gail rolls her eyes. "Your girlfriend announces she's pregnant and you don't seem too excited about it."

"Oh…that."

Gail nods her head, "yes. That."

"I don't know," confesses Keith. "I love Stacey, I do. It's just." He grumbles. "I want what you and Heather have," he states.

"What?!" Gail utterly confused.

"You two make a relationship look so easy. You guys look at each other, like," he sounds frustrated trying to come up with some sort of comparison when his mind is running a mile a minute completely surprising himself he's confiding in Gladys, "like Christine Sinclair looks at a soccer ball, with so much drive and determination and…and love. I want that," he says.

"Oh," whispers Gail. "Oh," she repeats.

"Yeah," says Keith placing his head in his hands, resting on the bar.

"If you, uh, ever want to talk or anything…I'm," Gail can't believe what she's about to say, "I'm there for you. We both have pregnant significant other, we need to stick together," she tries to joke and bring up a comradery feeling.

"Thanks Gladys," mumbles Keith.

The barman comes over with their drinks already made up Gail cuts in before he can ask his question, "I hear someone is possessed by an owl."

The barman scrunches up his face, "who?" Gail smiles and Keith chuckles. The barman doesn't know what just happened but repeats his original demand, "name a song about aliens."

"Starman by David Bowie," mumbles Keith.

"E.T. by Katy Perry," answers Gail without skipping a beat, somewhat pleased with herself.

The barman scrunches up his face, "what?"

"Aw, come on," insists Gail, "it's right there in the title, it's about aliens."

"Okay," says the barman as he slides the drinks over to them.

"What is it with you guys and aliens," wonders Gail as the walk the drinks back to the table.

"Aliens are a thing here, didn't you know?"

* * *

They get back to the table and Holly says, "did anyone see that article in the newspaper about mini golfing in a church?"

"Hold on," says Evan, "you get the newspaper?"

"Don't bother," jumps in Dan, "I already told her she could read articles online, but she doesn't want to."

"Alright."

Holly laughs lightly, "back to my original point, mini golf in a church?!"

"That's one way to get people going to church again," comments Stacey.

"I don't think I would have stopped going if that was an option," Dan confesses.

Dorothy smiles at her husband and changes the subject by asking "who's going to the Halloween party at the school?"

Gail raises an eyebrow, "shouldn't that be for the students?"

Ellie answers, "because our towns so small, everyone gets invited, I'm sure they invited you at school right Heather?"

Holly blushes, "yeah, they did." She looks at Gail with a slight shoulder shrug, "I forgot."

"No big deal, want to go?"

"Maybe."

"Okay." Gail leans over and kisses Holly. Keith was right; being with Holly is easy. "I already got us costumes," shares Gail.

"You did?" questions Holly. "Not a couple costume though right?"

"No," assures Gail. "I figured you would be dressing up for school and I won't be spending the day in your classroom so people could see our costumes. That might be fun though, watch you be all nerdy all day."

This time Holly leans over to kiss Gail, "thanks."

* * *

Holly opens up the bathroom stall's door to exit and finds Gail standing in the bathroom with no expression on her face. Holly smiles at her, "are all the other stalls taken, sorry, you can have this one." Holly tries to leave the stall, to go wash her hands, when Gail walks in front of her and ushers her back into the stall. "What are you doing?" questions Holly.

Gail leans in to kiss Holly; before their lips touch she stops so she can ghost her lips over the brunette's. "Fuck you're beautiful." She kisses Holly hard; Holly barely has time to react before Gail's hands start to trail down from her shoulders, pausing for a second on Holly's baby bump, and continuing down to Holly's waistline. Gail leans her forehead against Holly's, completely pleased, "I like your new stretchy pants."

Holly's panting trying to catch her breath, she tries to keep it PG, "I do too, I have room to grow in them and I don't feel as constricted."

"I like them because I can easily put my hand down your pants now."

"Oh that's a good reason too," agrees Holly as Gail demonstrates. Holly gets lost in Gail's touch, her skin catching fire as Gail's hand slips into her pants. Holly stretches out her arms to brace herself; her hand touches the stall's wall. Holly simply forgot where they were, "honey you need to stop," Holly tries desperately to stop Gail's advances. Holly swallows. "Let's go home Gail." A toilet flushes somewhere in the bathroom, the two stop, Gail pulls her hand out of Holly's pants. She motions for Holly to leave the stall.

Ellie walks out of hers, a huge smile on her face. "No need to be embarrassed, I remember what it was like being pregnant." She washes her hands, fixes her hair in the mirror, and reapplies some lipstick. "It's totally kinky you two use different names," she winks and opens the bathroom door. "Don't worry, I wont tell anyone," is the last thing before Ellie leaves the bathroom.

Gail has a huge smile on her face, "well that could have been worse," she gives Holly a kiss on the cheek.

Holly hits her lightly, with a stern look says, "don't push your luck."

* * *

Back at the table, "Mr. Stevens did it again," complains Evan. Ellie shakes her head, knowing exactly what her husband is going to say.

"What did Stevie-boy do?" questions Gail. The whole table looks at her like she's completely lost her mind. "What?"

"I wouldn't call him that if I were you," advises Keith. Gail puts her hands up in surrender.

"He put out his recycling bins after they went by. What does he think is going to happen, that the recycling people are going to circle back just for his bins? Now we have to avoid them on the sidewalk for two weeks, just bring them back to your house. Sheesh!"

"Feel better?" asks Ellie, as she leans over to kiss his cheek.

"Yeah," answers Evan with complete relief on his face.

Everyone laughs with smiles on their faces. Dan says, "the littlest things eh."

"Sometimes eh."

Holly stifles a yawn. Gail leans over, "ready to go?" Holly nods her head. That's enough for Gail. She grabs Holly's hand and stands up. "This has been fun," she says sincerely, which kind of surprises her, "but we need to go. We'll see you all soon enough I'm sure." The two wave good bye and exit.

* * *

Thanks for reading


	16. Chapter 16

Keith caught up with Holly and Gail before they left the bar. They were at the door getting their coats on, "Gladys, just to give you a heads up, I'll be taking some time off, so you'll most likely be covering my route."

Gail nods her head, "no problem. I hope the time off will help you clear some things up."

Keith wobbles his head from side to side, "me too." He looks as if he wants to say more but stops himself instead he says, "thanks." He turns around and heads back to the table, where it looks like Stacey is getting ready to leave, picking her and Keith's coat.

Holly and Gail step out into the night, "what were you two talking about at the bar?" wonders Holly.

"Oh," Gail's not sure how much Keith wants others to know, but it's Holly, she can tell her right… "we were just talking about you and Stacey being pregnant and how he and I should stick together."

Holly laughs, "seriously?"

"Yes," Gail says and thinks _among other things, but some stuff I need to figure out on my own._

* * *

Sitting in the late afternoon sun on the back deck, Gail is getting her hair trimmed by Holly. Holly makes one final snip, "and know all your dyed blonde hair is gone. You are officially back to your natural hair colour."

Gail raises her hand to touch her locks. "I can't believe I let you do this, I feel like I have no hair, I should have just went to see Dorothy."

Holly smiles her lopsided smile as she runs her fingers though Gail's short hair, "still kind of beautiful though."

"Oh really," Gail slightly smirks. Holly leans in and kisses Gail sweetly. "This was probably better anyways; I think Dorothy mentioned she was letting Eve cut hair. I'm not sure I'm ready for the girl who has trouble staying inside the colouring book's lines to cut my hair."

Holly and Gail laugh.

* * *

Holly and Gail decide to take advantage of the unusually warm weather in Moonbeam and go for a walk after dinner one night. They walk in front of Dorothy and Dan's house. Eve is playing in the front yard with her jumping rope, which she immediately drops in order to run to the Gilberts. "Hey Gladys," Eve calls out to Gail. Gail and Holly stop to see what Evey has to say. "Your nose is like a red cherry, freshly picked every day." Eve bursts into laughter, she then bends over laughing, holding on to her sides, barely able to control herself.

Gail laughs, "have you been spending time with Mrs. Crane?"

"Yeah." Eve beams, "Dad took us to Grandma's. She says the funniest things."

Holly scrunches up her face, from what she's heard from Gail, she can't imagine the older neighbour saying anything truly funny.

"I'll say," grumbles Gail. "She's like a million bucks, green and wrinkled."

Holly groans, "not you too." Holly shakes her head, "don't you and Mrs. Crane talk about anything besides those old funny mean comments?" Gail smiles and shrugs her shoulders, she is starting to enjoy going to Mrs. Crane's house, never knowing what the lady will say.

Eve laughs, but she's not sure what she's laughing at. When the laughter dies down Eve asks, "wanna jump rope with me?"

Gail looks at Holly, who shrugs her shoulders, meaning it's up to you. "Okay," agrees Gail, they were on their way back anyways, what's a few more minutes outside.

Dorothy emerges from the house seeing the Gilberts on the driveway in her front yard. She wanders over, watching Gail and Holly turn the jump rope for Eve in the middle. "I get next turn," declares Dorothy.

"Okay mom," agrees Eve, "when I mess up, you can jump."

Dorothy stands next to Holly, who's still spinning the rope. "I have some good news."

Holly slightly turns her head to her. "What? Have you finally found a great halloween costume?"

Dorothy shakes her head, "not yet, I still have a week though. That's not what I wanted to talk to you about." Dorothy's head is bobbing in time with the rope, caught in a trance. "I found another couple who's willing to participate in the birthing class with us!"

"Oh," says Holly. "Good! So you'll be able to teach us in town."

"Yes," says Dorothy, head still bobbing.

"Who is it?" questions Holly.

"I want to keep it a surprise," just then Eve messes up and gets out of the middle. Dorothy takes her place; Gail and Holly begin to spin the rope for their neighbour. Holly catches a look coming from Gail, Holly shrugs her shoulders, unable to interpret Gail's look.

After everyone took a turn jumping in the middle, Gail and Holly head back to the safe house. "What was that look for?" wonders Holly.

Gail grumbles, "I was fine turning the rope for the child, but Dorothy…" Gail makes a face.

Holly knows full well that Gail's not that fond of people, but kids are alright. "You turned the rope for me," reminds Holly.

Gail wiggles her nose from side to side, "yeah well, that was different."

Holly laughs at Gail and grabs her hand, some things will never change.

* * *

Gail drops off the mail at the school and walks through into the library, hoping to catch a glimpse of Holly, but no such luck. She enters the library and heads straight to Ms. Dunn's desk.

"Good morning Gladys," greets Ms. Dunn. "I haven't seen you in a while and now, everyday this week."

Gail shrugs her shoulders not sure of a response. "Uh. Keith has the week off, so you'll see me for the rest of this week."

"Fine by me," assures Ms. Dunn. "How did your garden turn out? I remember Heather was mentioning that you two planted some stuff this year."

"Actually it worked out a hell of a lot better than I thought. I also may actually like gardening, there's something calming and," Gail pauses for a moment searching for the right word, "tranquil about it."

Ms. Dunn nods her head in agreement. "Normally Annie and I plant tomatoes or something but this year we didn't. Not even a pepper plant. Oh well, there's always next year."

"Yes," agrees Gail. "Next year, I'm thinking of making a bigger garden," says Gail somewhat excitedly. "I just have to convince Heather."

"You say that now, but next spring you'll have a little one to look after too, it may be too much work at one time. Or like you said, it is calming, so you may need the break."

"Lots to think about," says Gail, not really giving a proper response to anything.

"Yeah," agrees Ms. Dunn.

Someone enters the library. Ms. Dunn gasps. "What?" questions Gail. Ms. Dunn doesn't say anything, just continues to stare at the person in the library.

"I haven't seen her since Annie was a baby…." Ms. Dunn trails off.

"You know her?"

"Uh…" Ms. Dunn still shocked from a blast from her past, she says slowly, "Yeah….that's my wife."

* * *

Thanks for reading


	17. Chapter 17

I have been having too much fun making everyone in this town seem suspicious; I think we have enough suspicious people, so now things will progress…sort of…I mean does anything really happen...sort of

* * *

Someone enters the library. Ms. Dunn gasps. "What?" questions Gail. Ms. Dunn doesn't say anything, just continues to stare at the person in the library.

"I haven't seen her since Annie was a baby…." Ms. Dunn trails off.

"You know her?"

"Uh…" Ms. Dunn still shocked from a blast from her past, she says slowly, "Yeah….that's my wife."

Gail doesn't know what to say. She stands there as the lady, Ms. Dunn's wife, walks closer to the librarian's desk. Gail looks her over, wondering if she's seen her before, light brown hair, green eyes, still tanned skin, maybe coming from the south where it could still be warm this time of year, smartly dressed, ironed creases in her clothing, well put together. Gail doesn't remember seeing her, here or anywhere.

"Hello Annette," the lady says.

Ms. Dunn doesn't respond, she looks over at Gail, sees the impassive look on her face, looks back towards her wife, "hello Henrietta."

"Ugh," Henrietta scrunches up her face and whines, "you know I hate my full name."

 _One point for Ms. Dunn_ , Gail thinks.

"What do you want Henri?" questions Ms. Dunn, hoping to get this over with.

"I just want to talk to you, see how you're doing, I don't know, maybe see our daughter…"

Ms. Dunn's expression has not changed, if anything she may be a little angry. She does not want to give this woman an inch, and she doesn't want to get hurt again. Last time she had a little baby she had to take care of and mend her broken heart, this time Annie's older and can take care of herself, but Ms. Dunn does not want to let this lady in again.

Gail's still standing at the desk, wondering whether she should go or not. Normally she doesn't care about other people's business, but for whatever reason she continues to stand there watching these two stare at each other.

Gail shifts her position to lean against the desk. This attracts Henri's attention, she looks Gail up and down and notices the mail worker's uniform and 'Canada post' written on her shirt, she says, "thank you for delivering the mail, but we wouldn't want to keep you from your route," she tries to smile at Gail, hoping to dismiss her.

Gail looks over to Ms. Dunn, looking for some sort of confirmation, whether Ms. Dunn wants her there or not. "Gladys is a friend," Ms. Dunn finally says. "We were just catching up when you showed up."

Henri puts on her biggest (to Gail fakest) smile, "so nice to meet one of Annette's friends," she holds out her hand to shake, "nice to meet you Gladys."

Gail doesn't really know much about this lady except for the very little that Holly shared about her. Having witnessed the interaction between Ms. Dunn and Henri, Gail has an inkling to be rude to her, "I'm sure it is, Henrietta." Gail sees Ms. Dunn smirk. _Another point in favour of Ms. Dunn,_ Gail thinks.

Ms. Dunn places a hand on Gail's arm, "she's right Gladys, I can't keep you from your route, especially since you're doing two this week."

Gail begrudgingly nods her head, knowing she already spent too much time in the library and needs to get back outside. She gives Ms. Dunn one last glance to make sure she was okay, when she gets a confirmation nod, Gail finally leaves the library.

* * *

Word spreads fast in a tiny town. Practically everyone is aware that Henrietta is back. Thus Gail wasn't too surprised when she got back to the safe house that Holly was practically jumping at the bit excited to talk to Gail about it. "I heard you were at the library when Henrietta appeared."

"She prefers Henri," informs Gail.

"Oh," Holly tilts her head slightly, surprise written on her face, encouraging Gail to continue.

Gail tells Holly everything she observed, she stops herself at the end and says, "this is weird, I've never really cared this much about people and their," she twirls her hands around in the air, searching for a word.

"Lives?" helps Holly.

"Yeah," agrees Gail. "I'm clearly bored. I need something else to think about, some sort of police work to keep my mind busy, there was always a case going on at 15, we may not have been fully involved in every case but we were informed on most of them to help keep an eye out for a suspect or listen to the word on the street for some helpful information."

"You miss your job and the city and your friends. Welcome to the club."

"Yeah…"

* * *

*ring* Gail answers her phone with no emotion in her voice, "hey Steve."

"Something wrong?" he wonders.

"Other than I'm stuck here in Moonbeam for at least another month, no."

"Oh yeah, that…"

"Something you needed Steve?"

"Just calling to check in, see how you're doing."

"I'm fine, we're fine. We're ready to leave though. Sure the people here are nice and all, but it would be great to get back home," Gail shares. "I really want to go dancing."

"Can't you go dancing there?"

"You came to Moonbeam, there's not much here. Listen to my plans for Halloween, the town gets invited to the school's gym to have a Halloween party, now doesn't that sound like fun," Gail complains.

"Perfect timing," says Steve, "you can dance at this Halloween party."

"Yeah…" Gail says sarcastically, "dancing with all these kids around is exactly the type of dancing I was hoping to do." Silence lapses, Gail repeats herself, "it would be great to get back home."

"About that," Steve pauses.

"Don't you say it," warns Gail.

"You may be stuck in Moonbeam a little longer," he hears Gail grumble. "We just sent someone else in undercover to infiltrate the Village Gang, so far what we've learned is good. They still think you're in Toronto, for whatever reasons, however the new guy inside says they fear you've gone into hiding and are going to start branching out." He hears Gail grumble again.

"Well, if they've stopped looking for me in Toronto, I should go back," she tries to persuade her brother.

He gives a half hearted chuckle, "you know as very well as I do that that is not how that works."

"I know…it was worth a try…"

"Look on the bright side; at least you're not alone in Moonbeam."

"Yeah," she agrees.

"Don't say it like that." Steve sensing some uncertainty in her voice, "I saw the way you are with Holly, compared to all your other partners, whether they're your undercover partner or your romantic partner, you treat her differently. You're nice to her, and" he pauses, readying himself for some sort of backlash, "you're nice to be around. It was a little weird for me, but I like it." He stops ready to be told off, or to butt out, but instead Gail switches topics. _Typical_ , he thinks.

"When you say they're branching out, what do you mean?"

"Have you been talking to Claude?" not upset with the topic switch, he knows him and Gail have a good enough relationship, that if either one wants to talk about something important the other will listen.

"Not since we got back from Winnipeg, why?"

"I just thought that he would be the one informing you is all."

"Maybe he assumes because you're my brother and we are Pecks, that you'd be informing me," Gail voices.

"Yeah, maybe... Know that I think about, I haven't seen him around recently, maybe he's on vacation."

"Come on Steve, you work with the guy, don't you talk with him?"

Steve makes some weird noise, "I don't really work with him…he just works near me."

"Uh-huh." There's silence on the phone. "So, not home for Christmas?" Gail wonders.

"Not looking like it…sorry."

Gail sighs, "it's okay, it's just now I have to tell Holly, and she's been counting down the days until we get back."

Steve sounds sympathetic, "that's gotta be rough. You and I are used to it, but civilians…" pause. "If there's anything that I can do…"

"Yeah…" Gail sighs, trying to think of a way to tell Holly. Gail snaps her fingers, remembering a request Holly had a little while back, "is there a way she can contact her family?"

Steve thinks for a second, "well…she can't use her cell phone, too easily traceable. She can't mail a letter, that would be terrible for you two-"

Gail cuts him off, "is there a way she can use my cell phone to call them, somehow create a secure line…"

Steve snaps his fingers, "Traci is actually headed to a conference in Montreal, that's where Holly's family's from-"

"I know," Gail jumps in.

"If I go with her, I mean I could contact someone in the Montreal area and create something, it would be a lot faster, but I prefer the fewer the people who know about you two and where you are the better."

"Agree."

"The conference is the second week in November; do you think she can wait two more weeks?"

"I mean she waited until now, what's two more weeks?"

* * *

"Gail!" Holly calls from the upstairs bedroom. "Gail! Come quick!"

Gail lets go of the carrot she was peeling and sprints up the stairs, she bursts through the bedroom, "what's wrong?" worry written all over her face. "Is everything okay?"

Holly has the biggest smile on her face, sitting up in their bed, back against the headboard with her hands firmly planted on her belly, "come here," she instructs. Gail walks around the bed to Holly. Holly scoots over a little to allow Gail to sit on the edge of the bed; she takes one of Gail's hands and places it where her hand was. They sit in silence for a moment.

"Oh my," Gail whispers, feeling the baby move under Holly's skin. They go back to sitting together, in silence; both have a hand on Holly's baby bump.

Holly can't stop smiling; she's so excited to finally truly feel her baby. "The baby did this the other day at school, but it was simply a brush. But right now it feels as if the baby is kicking me."

"You felt this the other day at school?" questions Gail, completely in awe.

"Yes," smiles Holly, still looking at their hands on her belly. "It was only for a minute, it wasn't this long. I wasn't going to call you now if there wasn't any more movement, but the baby is clearly up to something right now," giggles Holly.

Gail leans over and kisses Holly's temple. "I'm so happy for you."

"Thanks," beams Holly.

Gail removes her hand from Holly's belly. "Next time we go to one of your ultra sound appointments, are you going to see if you're having a boy or a girl?"

Holly tilts her head to the side, "probably not, I still like the idea of finding out when they're born."

"You sure you don't want to do a big gender reveal?" questions Gail. "They're all the rage right now," she jokes.

"Nope," Holly pops the 'p.'

"Okay," Gail gets up off the bed, "I'm going to go back down stairs and finish making dinner, you take all the time you need up here though. Thank you for sharing this moment with me."

Holly grabs Gail's hand before she turns and walks away, "thank you for sharing this moment with me," she repeats with full earnesty. The smile that Holly gives Gail, sends butterflies fluttering about in Gail's stomach, Gail can't help but smile back.

* * *

Gail and Holly go to the Halloween party at the school. Upon entering the gymnasium, Holly notices one prominent costume and points it out to Gail, "there are a lot of alien costumes here."

"Aliens are a thing here, didn't you know?"

Holly shifts her lips to her left and scrunches up her face, "no, how do you know?"

"I can't tell you all my secrets," Gail winks at Holly.

Holly begins to flounder as she thinks about the last time Gail said that to her, her face reddens as she remembers why Gail said it. Holly plays it off with a laugh and threads her arm through Gail's. "Let's go say hi to Dorothy, she's waving us over."

"Any idea who the other couple is for the birthing class?"

"Not a clue, why?"

"Just curious." Gail asks another question that's being flitting about her head, "do you think Ms. Dunn and her wife will be here?"

"Not sure, I waved to her the other day in the hall at school, but beyond that, I haven't really seen her."

"I can't believe they're still married," Gail voices her thoughts.

"Ms. Dunn didn't know where she went, and she thought in order to get divorce she needed Henri's signature."

"Common mistake, you don't need your spouse's signature to get divorced. Once you've lived apart for a year you can file for divorce, without your spouse's signature, and potentially be awarded a divorce."

"Someone did their research…" Holly comments cautiously.

Gail shrugs her shoulders, "when you're about to go to the altar with a somewhat flakey boyfriend, one needs to know these things."

"Ah," Holly nods her head, not knowing what the appropriate response is.

Dorothy claps her hands and beams when they finally reach her. "Heather, your costume is hilarious."

"Thanks, but I can't take all the credit, Gladys picked it out for me."

Dorothy nods her head, "this does seem more like her humour…"

Holly's Halloween costume is a plain white t-shirt with the words, 'let me out' written on it and a toy baby's arms and legs popped through at the baby bump looking like the baby is trying to get out of Holly's belly. Gail smiles to herself, happy with her find the other day at the shopping center.

"You have a nice costume too Gladys, dressing up as an alien is a classic around here" Dorothy, dressed up in a bright orange prisoner jump suit, comments.

"Thanks," agrees Gail. "Yours is…fun," Gail having a hard time to think of a positive word to describe people she puts away for a living.

Dorothy smoothes out her costume, "I like it when I take the kids trick or treating, I can bundle up underneath and this just zips up over top, it's quite handy."

Gail nods her head, understanding the practicality of Dorothy's costume, "I already have an idea for what we should be next year…" Holly gets an incredible look on her face, excited that there's going to be a next year. "Yup, we're going to be mummies."

Dorothy rolls her eyes, "seriously? Can't you think of something more clever than that?"

"Bad joke," Gail wonders. What Holly says nothing she explains it, "you know, with all the bandages and everything..."

Holly stands next to Gail, places her arm around Gail's waist, leans in to give the blonde a kiss on her cheek, "I think it's perfect."

Dorothy shrugs her shoulders, "whatever you're happy with." Her head spins around as she notices Henri talking to Jack and Erin, "I think I'm going to go say hi to Jack and Erin," she excuses herself.

"Next year eh?" Holly questions.

"Is that okay?"

Holly turns Gail so they're facing each other, her eyes map up and down Gail's face, finding herself always getting lost in those blue eyes. Holly thinks she's in love with Gail, but doesn't know how to tell the other woman, doesn't know if it's just pregnancy hormones or the real deal, she decides to keep her feelings to herself for now, let her and Gail enjoy this moment for what it is. She places her hands on either side of Gail's cheeks to pull their foreheads together, "yes."

* * *

Gail and Holly walk over to Keith and Stacey. Gail laughs at his t-shirt that says, 'you don't scare me, my wife is pregnant.' "Great shirt," Gail compliments.

"It's true," he says sheepishly, "I actually got one for you if you want it."

Gail looks over to Holly to see her reaction, and when she sees her laughing and not at all offended, she shrugs her shoulders, "okay."

"I'll give it to you on Monday." Holly and Stacey begin to comment about the other costumes around them, giving Gail a minute to talk to Keith somewhat privately.

"How was your week?" Gail asks, hoping some of Keith's fears have been settled.

"Fine," he says with a noncommittal shrug.

"Want to grab a beer sometime this week?" Gail offers.

"I'd really appreciate that," he sighs. "Stacey has an ultra sound appointment this coming week, I took the day off, so you'll have another day of my route again." Gail nods her head.

The two begin to tune into Holly and Stacey's conversation, just in time to hear Holly share the latest development, "I felt the baby move."

"Oooh, what's it feel like?"

"It was strange at first, and it took me by surprise," Holly confides.

"Incredible," Stacey says in awe, she grabs Keith's hand, "we're going to feel that soon."

"I'm excited," he says and squeezes her hand.

The 'Monster Mash' starts to play. Holly grabs Gail's hand, gives her a lopsided smile, "dance with me?"

Gail twists her head to the side, scrunches up her face, desperately wanting to say 'no', but she has learned that she'd do anything for that smile of Holly's. "Let's go," she says as she starts to drag Holly into the middle of the dance floor.

* * *

Thanks for reading


	18. Chapter 18

Holly misjudges the distance between the counter and the bar stool and accidentally stubs her toe as she heads into the family room, "shit!" she exclaims.

"Lunchbox!" Gail folds the newspaper that she was reading on the couch and sets it beside her.

"I'm okay, I just stubbed my toe," Holly explains.

"Not why I called your name-"

"I wouldn't necessarily say 'Lunchbox' is my name," Holly interjects.

Gail ignores her, "the baby can hear us now; we need to watch what we say, maybe stop cursing so much."

Holly tilts her head to the side, Gail continues to surprise her. Holly knew she was reading the book on pregnancy but how much Gail has retained and willing to discuss and inform Holly on surprises her. Holy decides on the noncommittal answer of, "I'll take that into consideration, but if I stop swearing, you do too." Gail shrugs her shoulders like 'okay.' Holly harrumphs, hoping to get some sort of reaction out of the blonde, hoping that she tries to put up some sort of resistance to the swearing, not that Holly swears a lot, but sometimes the occasion calls for it. Holly sits next to Gail on the couch, "anything interesting in the newspaper?"

Gail pushes the paper aside to give Holly more space, "actually yes. I've been noticing a string of breaking and entering in the region. I don't know what's brought this on." Gail shrugs her shoulders, mentally reminding herself to keep track of the progression. "Also, Mr. Feldman, two towns over, grew the biggest squash in the county."

"That is pretty exciting," Holly says sarcastically, storing the 'b and e's in the back of her mind as well. "You know what's funny, you made fun of me for subscribing to the newspaper and yet you probably use it more than I do."

Gail shrugs her shoulders, "it's a great way to learn about the region and see what's happening." Gail places a hand on Holly's belly, Holly's stomach has become a bit of a magnet to Gail's hand, whenever they're in close proximity, Gail can't help but touch Holly's baby bump.

Holly smiles and leans over to kiss Gail. She stays in Gail's space, "are you done reading the paper?" Holly asks dodging Gail's lips.

"I hadn't gotten to the national section yet." Holly partly pulls away, "but I can read it later," Gail insists as she wraps her arms around Holly, not letting her escape.

Holly leans back in, "now that you're done reading the paper…wanna make out?"

Gail helps maneuver Holly into her lap; "since you asked so ni-" Gail doesn't get to finish her sentence as Holly's lips are already on hers.

* * *

Gail is sorting the mail on the kitchen countertop. She comes across a 'Canadian Living' magazine addressed to Heather Gilbert. "Holly."

"Yeah?" she hears from somewhere in the house.

"Did you subscribe to a magazine?"

"No," Gail hears Holly walking down the stairs and watches her lean against the door jamb in the kitchen.

"Then why is there a magazine here with your," Gail uses finger quotes, '"name' on it?"

"First off, it was two magazines, the other one mustn't have come in yet. Second, it's one of those trial things, you know where you get two issues for free, and you can cancel it anytime," Holly explains.

"We've been here for a couple of months, why didn't you subscribe to them earlier?"

"I saw an ad the other day when we were at the doctor's office; I pulled out the postcard thing, filled it out, and sent it away."

"You do realize we could be leaving any moment," Gail points out.

"I thought you said we were stuck here until after Christmas, plus I really like looking at the Christmas issues. Some of the houses that they photograph are pretty spectacular, how the home owner or whoever has decorated them, I mean I wouldn't want it in my house, but I'm all for looking at it in someone else's."

"Holly Stewart," Gail says somewhat mischievously, "do you like Christmas?" she asks as if it is some secret.

Holly tilts her head to the side and furrows her brows, "I don't not like Christmas. What's so wrong with liking Christmas?"

"Nothing," Gail says casually, but tucks away this information for later. "What other magazine did you subscribe to?" Gail asks, switching the subject.

"I would have wanted to choose some other magazine like a forensic journal, but there weren't any in the doctor's lobby to get a subscription card to take, then I thought they would all be waiting for me when I get home…" Holly notices Gail has a funny expression on her face, so she says, '"Chatelaine.'"

"You read forensic journals?"

"From time to time I write for them too," Holly adds, somewhat sheepishly.

Gail has an impressed look on her face, "so you are a nerd." Gail says not as a question, more as a statement. "Cool."

Holly looks pleased, pleased that Gail likes her for who she is and what she does. Pleased that Gail may poke fun at her like calling her a nerd, but she does so playfully, no ill will involved. Holly thinks, not for the first time and certainly not for the last time, that she may love Gail. That the crush has fully progressed far past like and is now definitely in the love territory.

* * *

Holly's about to lift a box in the study when Gail pops her head in, "whoa, whoa! What are you doing? Holly you're almost in your third trimester, I know the doctor said you could still do some stuff, but I'd prefer it if you let me help you. If I'm here just give me a holler or if I'm not just leave a note on whatever you need moved."

Holly puts her hands up in surrender and backs away from the box allowing for Gail to step in and pick it up. "Good," says Gail. "I know you want to keep your independence and what not, but it's only for a couple more months then you can lift all the heavy boxes you want." Holly nods her head, waits for Gail to go lift up the box.

Gail steps in front of it, bends down so that she will be able to lift with her knees. She rubs her hands together, preparing herself for however heavy this box is. She places a hand on either side of the box, grabs onto the handles, and lifts her hardest. She shoots up like a rocket. Completely surprised with how light the box is, "the box is empty!"

Holly laughs, "I know."

"You could have told me," Gail pouts, feeling slighted, all she was trying to be was helpful.

"Why? You clearly wanted to lift that box," Holly smiles.

"You suck," says Gail as she drops the empty box on the desk. "I'm going to play 'Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door.' And you can't play, mostly because it's single player, but ha!"

Holly laughs as Gail leaves the room.

* * *

Gail comes back to the safe house after having a few drinks with Keith at the bar. The house is quiet and all the lights are turned out. She finds Holly lying on top of the covers on the bed, her shirt had risen up and Gail sees the baby bump exposed. Gail walks over quietly and places a kiss on Holly's belly, "one for the baby," she moves to Holly's forehead, "one for the babe."

Holly opens her eyes and sees Gail standing over her. "Are you coming to bed?"

"Just give me a second." Gail gets ready for bed and slides next to Holly.

"How was your night?"

"Good, we played darts," Gail leans over and gives Holly a quick kiss on the lips. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah…I just needed to lie down. I know you didn't sign up for this, but I really appreciate you being around."

"It's no trouble." They're silent for a little bit while they both just stare at each other. Gail feels she could just stay like this forever, always comfortable in a calm silence with Holly, smiling timidly at each other. Gail yawns.

"You should go to sleep, it's been a long day," Holly yawns.

"Yeah," says Gail, who doesn't really want to stop staring at Holly, but agrees none the less. She leans over to give Holly a kiss goodnight, "night nerd." Gail rolls over to lie on her back, ready to sleep. Holly shifts to her side. No good. She shifts to her other side. No good. She wiggles around trying to find the perfect spot. She lies across the width of the bed; she sets her head down on Gail's stomach, dangling her legs and feet over the mattress and sighs. Much better. Holly has been feeling uncomfortable all day. She has finally found a position where she feels she can stretch out applying the right amount of pressure to certain areas. "Better?" asks Gail.

"Yes," Holly sighs again.

Gail laughs lightly. She lifts her one arm to reach out and touch Holly's face. She settles her hand on Holly's head where she begins to caress her hair. Holly sighs again. Gail closes her eyes and continues to run her hand over Holly's hair, happy for the peaceful moment. Gail moves her other arm above her head, making her sleep shirt rise up, exposing a strip of skin near her hips. Holly leans over and kisses her hip bone, finding a sensitive spot, Gail involuntarily shudders. Holly feeling the quiver kisses that spot again, obtaining the same reaction.

"Hey," Gail somewhat chides, knowing her body will want more if Holly continues.

Holly decides to kiss that same spot one last time, enjoying the way Gail's body reacts to her lips. Holly gets a smile on her face, "night."

"Tease."

* * *

Steve calls Gail and Holly from Holly's parents' house. Steve wishes Gail a happy birthday. Gail informs him her birthday's not for another week, all the while avoiding the 'birthday' word. "You didn't tell Holly did you?" Steve questions.

"No, she has enough on her plate as it is."

"Okay little sis," he asks her to pass the phone to Holly and he'll pass the phone to Holly's mom. Gail agrees. When Steve's on the phone with Holly, he lets her know its Gail's birthday next week, and even though she doesn't like to celebrate, it's still nice to have it acknowledged. Holly looks over at Gail who's casually sitting on the couch while Holly's pacing back and forth on the floor, excited to finally talk to her parents.

"Thanks for letting me know," says Holly.

"No worries. I'll pass you to your mom now." Steve passes the phone to Holly's mom.

"Holly? Holly? Where are you Holly?" Joyce asks.

"I can't tell you that mom."

Holly hears her dad ask 'what did she say?' in the background. She hears the phone being fumbled with before her mom says, "I put you on speaker phone dear."

"Hi dad," Holly says, with a tear in her eye. Gail walks over to Holly who has stopped pacing and is now standing in the middle of the hallway; she guides her to the couch, where they sit down together, Gail holding Holly's hand, giving it a squeeze of reassurance. Knowing how much Holly misses her parents and wants to desperately see them. After some time of the three catching up, Holly finally hangs up and falls into Gail. Tears in her eyes, "I couldn't tell them," she says.

"It's okay," assures Gail. "You couldn't tell them where we are, it could be dangerous, there are multiple reasons-"

"No," says Holly. "I couldn't tell them I'm pregnant." She stops and sniffs to stop the tears. "For the past couple of months that's all I wanted to do, was to call up my mom and tell her I'm pregnant. But I couldn't… I'm happy I'm pregnant, I want them to be happy I'm pregnant, but I don't want them to worry more than they have to and-" she starts to cry again.

Gail rubs soothing circles on Holly's back, letting her cry it out. She leans over and kisses Holly's head that's resting on her shoulder. "It's okay."

"Is it though?"

* * *

Holly finds Gail's in the kitchen working on something at the stove. "Watchya makin'?"

"Macaroni and cheese."

"Not Kraft Dinner?" asks Holly, pretending to be surprised. "Weird."

"Hold your roll, we ran out of KD, so," shoulder shrug, "mac n cheese. Don't think I'm giving up on it."

"Mhmm."

"Fun fact," says Gail, "Canadians eat more macaroni and cheese than any other nation, so I'm just doing my part, trying to add to the statistic."

Gail can hear the smile in Holly's voice, "you're insane, you know that right?"

"Did you want to help add to the statistic or not?" asks Gail as she grabs bowls from the cupboard.

"Yes please."

They sit at the kitchen table eating their macaroni and cheese. Holly asks, "how do you think they know how much mac n cheese is consumed?"

"There's probably some guy somewhere, where his job is to look over all our receipts from the grocery store and if he sees elbow shaped pasta on the list as well as cheese, he puts a tick on his white board where he keeps track."

Holly laughs, "is it weird that that makes sense?"

Gail shrugs her shoulders and says, "Canada," as if that's explanation enough.

* * *

Gail's showering, she's sudsing up her hair, and singing, "I've got the world on a string, sitting on the rainbow, got the string around my finger. What a world, what a life, I'm in-" Gail stops singing, she stops sudsing, she places her hands on her hips, realization hitting her and says, "huh."


	19. Chapter 19

"Holls! You ready?" Gail calls from the front door where she's patiently waiting, not.

"Ummm" Holly says quietly to herself. "Could you come here?"

"You're lucky I think you're cute," Gail walks into the kitchen with her boots already on. "What's up?"

"You don't have to come," says Holly.

Gail furrows her brows, "What do you mean?"

Holly throws her hands up in the air and waves them about frantically. Holly doesn't know what she's doing. She doesn't know why she is giving Gail an out; she doesn't know why she feels she needs to. She knows that Gail is independent and has no issues speaking her mind. She feels awful about this. Holly places the backs of her hands over her eyes feeling like she's about to cry and wants to fend the tears off. "I know that we have to maintain appearances and whatnot but I would have potentially gone on my own if I were in Toronto or I would have asked a friend to go with me or maybe even called my sister," Holly sighs. "I guess what I'm trying to say is…I don't want you to feel like I'm forcing you to go."

In her soft, sweet voice Gail says, "You're not."Gail grabs Holly's hands from her face, "hey, look at me." Holly's brown eyes meet Gail's blue ones. "We've known each other long enough now; you know I really don't do things I don't want to. That's why when I was turning the jumping rope for Dorothy the other day I purposely got it stuck in her feet so I didn't have to turn it anymore."

Holly smiles, "I was wondering why she did so poorly. You didn't do so well either though."

"Like I've said Holly, I don't do sports…That's not what we are talking about though." Holly looks sheepish, Gail threads their fingers together and continues, "I will say this as many times as you need to hear it, I want to help. I enjoy spending time with you, whether it's here at the safe house playing games or at the library learning how to properly hold a baby, and if it's okay with you, I will eventually want to hold the baby." Gail jokes, "all on my own, no one hovering near me ya know for 'just in case reasons."' Holly smiles again. "As long as you remotely want me there, I will be there; I will always be there for you."

"I do want you there, there's no one I'd rather have there with me. It's just…"

"I know," and Gail does know, but she also doesn't all at the same time, it's tough and it's hard, but they'll figure it out. "Come here." She wraps her arms around Holly. They stand there with their arms wrapped around each other. Gail says, "we should get going," she pulls back to look at Holly, she cups Holly's cheek and wipes away a stray tear. "Plus how could I not go, I desperately want to see who the other couple is."

* * *

"Welcome to our first birthing class," greets Dorothy. "I'm Dorothy," she chuckles, "but you already knew that-"

Gail leans over to Holly and whispers, "it's not too late to find a different course and teacher…"

"Hush," scolds Holly, with a smile on her face.

"This is Ms. Dunn, we have taught this course multiple times, and we are excited to teach you too, especially since I consider you all my friends," she grins.

Gail looks around the room, nods her head at Keith, who nods back, and then eyes Jack and Erin. _Why are they here?_ She wonders: _I haven't heard that they're pregnant, and it's hard to keep things a secret in Moonbeam._ She also notices Henri sitting in a reading nook with a book and wonders, _what's going on there, is she still trying to make nice with Ms. Dunn? I should see if Holly knows anything._

Erin's hand shoots up, and as if she read Gail's thoughts says, "I know some of you will be thinking, 'why are they here?' or 'are they even pregnant?'" Holly elbows Gail. "Dorothy mentioned to us that she needed another couple to teach the class, and even though we aren't pregnant, we hope to be one day," she looks at Jack fondly, "so we figured why not learn what's potentially to come!" she ends enthusiastically.

"Thanks Erin," says Dorothy. "As I was saying, we will be showing you how to properly change a diaper, hold a baby, how to burp a baby, all the fun stuff!"

* * *

The following day, Gail pulls into the driveway and sees Holly's car already there. _That's weird,_ she thinks, _normally I get done my mail route before school is out_. Gail enters the house and listens for Holly, she hears nothing and knowing better than to yell her name out, Gail goes in search for her. Gail finds her lying on the bed dozing lightly. Gail can't help herself as she walks over and brushes her fingers through Holly's hair. Holly opens her eyes and sees Gail. She closes them. Gail sits next to Holly on the bed, "what are you doing back so early?"

"I wasn't feeling good, I was super tired and felt like I could nod off any second," Holly yawns. "The class was just doing a review anyways so Mr. Rivest said he'd watch them for me since it was his prep." Gail looks at Holly quizzically, Holly clarifies, "Mr. Bowtie, the history teacher." Gail nods her head. Holy recognizes the look of fear on Gail's face; she raises her hand to touch Gail's cheek. "I'm okay." Gail doesn't quite believe her, "I'll be fine. I'm just tired. We were probably just out too late last night."

"You and Stacey were hitting the orange juice pretty hard..."

Holly laughs. "Yeah."

Gail still somewhat leery, "well if you're sure you're okay." Holly nods her head. "Then I'm going to go for a run, and then I'll come back and make us some dinner."

Holly sits up, "I can make us dinner."

Gail snaps her fingers, "How bout we order out instead. That way we neither of us has to cook."

"I like the way you think," Holly sleepily smiles and lies back down. "I'm just going to close my eyes for a little while longer."

"Okay, I'll only be gone for a half hour or so."

"Take your time."

Gail goes to the dresser to grab some running clothes, changes, and heads out.

* * *

Gail drops mail at the high school and Holly happens to be in the office. "Hey?" Holly questions Gail, "what are you doing here?"

"The courier was sick, so I'm doing his route."

Holly notices the eyes of the secretary on them, and wanting a little bit of privacy from prying eyes, Holly asks Gail, "Mrs. Gilbert would you mind helping me lift something out of the supply closet?"

Gail gets dragged into some supply closet to help Holly, "wow, you're really milking this whole pregnancy thing-" Gail doesn't get to finish the sentence as Holly's lips are already on hers. Not a bad start to Gail's day.

* * *

Gail is walking her mail route, enjoying the sunshine and the cool autumn air, knowing there aren't too many more days like this before the snow is sure to come, she hopes one of the boys brought in their patio furniture, she doesn't want to have to get new stuff again this spring because one of them is too lazy to bring their set indoors. She delivers a package to someone's doorstep, she heads to the neighbour's and when she closes the mail box she notices someone is picking up the package she just set down. She sees the man look both ways and mustn't spot her at the mail box as he takes the package and places it under his arm and walks away. _Someone just stole that package_ , she thinks. She runs over to stop him, he hears the footsteps, turns to see her, and takes off. _Damn it!_ She chases him down, Gail yells out "stop po-" realizes what she's about to say and corrects herself, "stop postal worker." Gail tackles the thief to the ground, she gets up and is about to reach for handcuffs that aren't there, knee jerk reaction, the thief realizes the bit of stutter from Gail and elbows her in the face and runs off, luckily without the package, at least all her troubles weren't wasted.

Dorothy crosses the street, "Gladys!" she calls, "are you okay?"

Gail holding her face, "Yeah, I'll be fine."

"I was out walking Keith and Stacey's dogs for them, I saw the whole thing." The dogs jump on Gail to greet her, Gail pats them with her one hand, still clutching her face with the other. "Do you need anything? Do you need me to call anyone?"

"No, it's okay Dorothy…Fuck, that's going to be a bruise." She walks over to the mail carrier truck she parked down the street to look in the side mirror. "Yup, definitely going to bruise."

Dorothy, who's followed her, places a hand on her shoulder, "it doesn't look that bad," she tries to console.

Gail shrugs her shoulder to get Dorothy's hand off of her and shakes her head. She counts to ten in her head, needing to clear her head. She rolls her shoulders, jiggles her head from side to side to reset her mood. "It's fine."

"You sure, that looked like a hard hit."

"I said its fine," Gail says forcefully.

"Okay Gladys, whatever you say," Dorothy backs off, "I was only trying to help."

Gail looks at her like 'I didn't ask for your help', but bites her tongue and nods her head. _Be pleasant_ , Gail chants in her head, _don't bring suspicion to you, don't say something you can't take back, only a couple more months_. Gail feels like she's been saying that last one for too long now. "I know." She sighs. She bends down to pet the dogs, "where are they off to now?" referring to Keith and Stacey, knowing Keith called in 'sick' today.

"I think they went to her parent's house to celebrate their pregnancy, they said they'd only be gone for two days. I don't mind. The kids love their dogs, and that way I don't ever have to get some of my own, just borrow theirs," Dorothy laughs.

"Ah," says Gail. "Well I have to get back to my route." Gail pauses. "Um…thanks for checking on me Dorothy."

"No problem, that's what neighbours are for," she smiles.

Gail gets in her mail truck and moves on to the next street.

* * *

That night Holly enters a very quiet safe house. _That's weird; normally Gail's starting to cook something or playing a video game._ Holly finds Gail soaking in the bathtub with an almost empty tequila bottle on the floor. Gail's head is tilted to the side facing away from the door, resting her cheek on the cool bathtub. "Room for one more?"

Gail sighs still not looking at Holly, "up to you." Holly strips; Gail empties some of the water and adds some fresh hot water for Holly to join her.

"Rough day?" Holly can't help but run her hands up and down Gail's legs as soon as she's comfortably seated in the tub.

Gail sighs, "kind of," she turns her face to show Holly the now purple bruise on her cheek.

Holly gasps, "what happened?" Holly asks and instantly puts her hand up to touch Gail's face.

"Just the usual, me sucking at being a police officer…"

Holly scrunches her face, pausing a moment to collect her thoughts, "I'm not sure what you're referring to, but here you've been protecting us really well."

Gail sighs again and decides maybe she should tell Holly some of her worst policing experiences, let Holly decide how bad of a police officer Gail feels she is. She mentions being suspended for not properly checking someone, she mentions the kidnapping, she mentions her friend's fiancé dying while trying to save her. Gail's doing her best to hold back the tears, but she feels as if at any moment now they will just spill over. "I don't know why you want to be with me, Gail the pale fail," Gail reaches over the tub to grab the tequila bottle. She sighs and gives up when she realizes it's too far for her to get.

Holly grabs Gail's hands and brings them to her lips to kiss her knuckles. "Gail," she calls softly. Gail's not ready for eye contact, she can still feel the tears ready to break from the dam and rush out. "Gail," she says again.

"Hmm?" she questions, still allowing her head to lean against the tub's side staring longingly at the not yet empty bottle of alcohol.

"Gail will you look at me please?"

Gail sighs, "I don't see the point, but okay," she readjusts herself so she can sit up and face Holly.

"You asked me a question and I'd like to answer it," Holly all of a sudden is nervous, but she knows she wants to tell Gail, knows she wants to help Gail out of this miserable state she is in. "You asked why I'm with you, my answer is simple," Gail has a blank look on her face, like whatever Holly's going to say wont phase her and she could care less. Luckily this does not deter Holly, "I love you."

Gail's eyes shoot wide open, her face is no longer expressionless, there's definitely some expression on her face, but Holly doesn't know how to read it. "You what?" questions Gail.

"I love you," Holly repeats.

"You do?"

"Yes," says Holly, "and you know what?"

"What?" asks a still shocked Gail.

"I think you love me too."

Gail's surprised, she knows she loves Holly, but she wasn't expecting that this was how they were going to tell each other. Gail may not be into celebrating every romantic milestone but she did want to make it somewhat special.

Holly then voices her opinion on Gail's other comment, "I don't think you're as bad as a police officer as you think you are. You were obviously able to redeem yourself or else how did you get the special undercover mission and someone must trust your skills or else they wouldn't have asked you to be paired with me." Holly lets her words wash over Gail, let her take in what she needs to. Gail needs to know Holly thinks highly of her. Holly feels Gail's past doesn't define her; it's the present and future that matter to Holly.

Holly stands up in the tub, "come on honey, you're all pruney," Gail shoots up and steps out of the tub, wanting to help Holly out of the tub. Gail stumbles slightly, all the tequila she's had in the past little bit is catching up to her, "and I think you've had enough to drink. Thanks," says Holly as she accepts Gail's offered hand. "Let's get you to bed, you can take a nap, and I'll make us a light dinner then wake you up okay?"

Gail nods her head; she accepts the towel and dries off. She grabs her pjs from where she left them that morning and slips them on. Holly takes her hand and leads her to Gail's side of the bed where she pulls back the covers, Gail slips into bed. "Thanks Holly."

"Good thing it's Friday, you have the whole weekend to recover," She brushes through Gail's hair with her fingers. "We can have a lazy couple of days; catch up on the 'Great Canadian Baking Show.'"

"Shhh…" says Gail, "People aren't supposed to know how much I really like that show. Those bakers are like artists."

Holly smiles fondly at Gail, "it's okay honey, your secret is safe with me."

"Good. I love you too."

Holly leans down and kisses the blonde's head, "I know you do." She brushes some stray hair from Gail's face, wanting to get a better look at that bruise, wondering if she should put some sort of ointment on it, but settles on, "Happy Birthday Gail."


	20. Chapter 20

"Hol" Gail calls as soon as she opens the front door; she shuts the door with her foot since her hands are full of groceries. Gail can see Holly sitting in a chair in the kitchen, "Hol" she says again as she walks into the kitchen, she then notices Holly is not alone. She thinks fast, super fast, "and Oats, Hall and Oats. That's the band we were trying to think of yesterday. Hey babe," she leans down and kisses Holly's cheek. "Hi Jack and Erin, what are you guys doing here?" Gail places the grocery bags on the counter, allowing herself a moment to ready herself to be on alert.

"Why were you guys talking about Hall and Oats?" questions Erin.

"Oh…we…were discussing…famous duos," says Gail, who is extremely pleased with herself for once again being able to improvise so easily, first Hall and Oats, now famous duos, she should really be a part of an improv troupe or something.

"Yes," jumps in Holly. "I mentioned Sonny and Cher, she mentioned Tears for Fears."

For whatever reason Erin decides to jump in and says, "Phantogram." Essentially helping the two create more of a cover story.

Gail says, "The White Stripes."

Holly says, "Tegan and Sara." Gail nods her head, happy that Holly is going off on this fake story to save her slip up.

"Oooh good choices," says Jack. "I've always been partial to Seals and Crofts myself," he clears his throat and sings, '"the castles in the sand, _doot doo_ , I'll never be a man."' He smiles, clearly having some sort of fond memory.

"Oh yeah, or" Erin gets ready to sing, '"oh humming bird-"'

"That's great Erin," Gail cuts her off, "but why are you guys here?"

"We were sorry we missed you two at Thanksgiving," says Erin, "we went home and we missed your big announcement. We tried to catch you guys at the end of last week's birthing class, but you two left too fast. We came over to invite you two to dinner, but Heather was just saying she had to confirm with you."

Gail thinks for a second _, a chance to be inside their house, to do some snooping of my own,_ "yeah we're free, what time?" Holly gives her a questioning look, knowing Gail thinks Jack and Erin are shifty.

"Not 'til tomorrow," says Jack, "we have some stuff we have to do tonight," Erin hits him and gives him some weird look, "we just wanted to make sure you were free."

"Let's say cocktails at 6? Not for you though," Erin smiles at Holly, "congrats by the way."

"Thanks, I'm excited," Holly catches a glimpse of Gail and sees something in her eyes, is that hurt? "We're excited."

Gail musters a smile and takes a step closer to Holly and places a hand on her shoulder, "yes," she says quietly.

"We should get going," says Jack as he stands and makes his way to the door. Erin follows Jack, and Holly and Gail follow them, seeing them out. "See you guys tomorrow," says Jack as Gail closes the door and locks it.

"That was close," says Holly. Gail nods her head, upset with herself for saying Holly's name. "You never call my name when you enter, what made you call it today?"

"You were right there, I could see you, so I knew you weren't sleeping," Gail defends herself.

Holly can hear the defensive tone, "don't beat yourself up. I accidently said your name and Ellie didn't do anything about it."

"Ellie's harmless."

"How can you be so sure that Ellie's harmless and Jack and Erin aren't?"

"You're right, I can't. But, this dinner tomorrow will allow us to be in their house and maybe do some severe looking around."

"That's why you wanted to go…" her inner question being answered.

"Yes."

Holly smiles at Gail, always finding her adorable. "Why were you so excited when you got here?"

"Oh," Gail pretends to be hurt, "now you care what I have to say?" She walks back into the kitchen to start putting away the groceries.

Holly follows her and grabs Gail's hands so she has to look at her, she swings their hands to and fro, "what did you want to tell me?"

Gail tilts her head to the side, not going to break that fast. Holly places their hands on her tummy, "not the baby's house," Gail playfully grumbles and Holly smiles mischievously, knowing Gail's going to break and gush whatever she wanted to say, "my weakness," Gail says aloud. "Alright." Gail pretends to look upset with Holly for using the baby to get her to talk, even though she would have done so anyway. "When I was at the grocery store…" Holly nods her head, "I saw Ms. Dunn and Henri grocery shopping...together."

"Gasp," Holly smiles to herself, happy to see Gail cares for these people, even though they haven't known these people for that long, she can see she cares, clearly not wanting to see Ms. Dunn get hurt from Henri, maybe she should ask Gail why she cares so much at this second chance for those two ladies, figuring Gail will tell her on her own when she's ready. Instead she asks, "why do you think they were grocery shopping together?"

"I don't know. I was hoping you would know something."

"I don't," confesses Holly. "Maybe we should have Ms. Dunn and Annie over soon."

Gail shakes her head, "I can't believe I'm willingly going to someone's house, and entertaining the idea of having someone else over," she laughs to herself, thinking how many people back home would be so surprised if they saw her right now.

* * *

Gail leaves Holly in the kitchen working on some school work as she heads upstairs to clean up. She washes the makeup off of her face. She examines her check, poking at it and noticing that the bruise is practically gone. _Good thing I was a rebellious teen who liked to wear a lot of makeup_ , she thinks and smiles to herself in the mirror, _I had no trouble hiding that bruise to everyone_. She adjusts her face to get a better look at it; _Holly's going to want to look at it._ She thinks and heads downstairs, even though they both know there's nothing wrong with it. _She just likes the excuse to touch me,_ Gail smiles to herself, knowing she's right.

* * *

Holly's noticed that Gail's been going for more runs. Holly's sitting on the couch with her legs on the coffee table, she's been reading aloud, noticing the baby has been more responsive. She has also noticed when the baby is more active and she wants the opposite, her reading in a calming voice seems to settle the baby. It truly doesn't matter what she reads, the baby will respond to anything. Currently it's today's paper, specifically the classifieds. Just as Holly's about to close the paper, Gail walks through the door, all flushed from her run. "Hey," says Holly from the couch.

"Hey," responds Gail as she turns around and locks the front door. "What's up?"

"Just doing some reading."

Gail sits next to Holly placing her hand on Holly's stomach, she notices the paper opened to the classifieds, "is mum boring you?"

That's been the latest development; Gail has been talking to the baby and referring to Holly as mum. Holly loves it. She wasn't sure what was going to happen to her and Gail, but it feels natural to her, ever since they both said they love the other, even though it hasn't been mentioned again, things have become even easier, like a bit of an uncertainty that was hanging over Gail has been washed away, knowing that her and Holly have a security of sorts.

Gail grabs the baby books she had borrowed from the library a few days ago, "how about we read one of these." Holly's voice may calm the baby down, but Gail's voice initially always activates the baby. The baby may squirm around for a little bit but then does settle down with the repetitive calm voice of Gail. Gail opens up the book and begins to read, after reading it, she tosses it onto the table, "that book was lame; I'm never taking suggestions from Evan again. He said it was his favourite when his kids were young. That was awful."

Holly laughs at Gail's reaction. "Not all books are winners."

"You would know nerd." Gail stands up, "well, I'm going to go change."

"How come you've been running more often?" _Trying to runaway,_ Holly thinks but internally smacks her head, _Gail wouldn't do that, she's never done that to me, so why does this thought keep coming to my head? Sure my past relationships haven't been the best, but this relationship with Gail is great._ Holly chalks it up to hormones and the fear of losing the one person she currently has.

Gail shrugs her shoulders, "fitness."

"Sure. But," Holly stops, hoping Gail will finish the sentence.

"Now that I know when we're leaving I figured I needed to get my endurance back. Running endurance," she clarifies. "So that I can go back to work when we get home, we wont be here forever."

"Right," says Holly. Trying to figure something out, but can't. There's something on the tip of her tongue, but she doesn't have the right words to express herself yet. "Don't forget we're heading to Jack and Erin's for dinner."

"Don't worry," says Gail mischievously, "I didn't forget." She walks upstairs to get cleaned up and ready for their evening at the neighbours'.

* * *

Somewhere nearby, three men are scouring records at a district town hall and looking for any abnormalities. Hoping to catch a break and have arrows point them in the proper direction. "Ugh. This is taking forever. Why haven't we found Dr. Stewart yet? It has never been this hard…" One man laments.

"This is weird; it looks as if the cops have found better places to hide their people."

"We got lucky that she sent that letter, that way we're able to narrow it down a bit more."

"Yeah!" One speaks up, "we were able to figure out it came from the Cochrane District. Damn it's getting cold up here."

"This is nothing," says the other, "one year I spent a winter in the Yukon to hide from some people. Now that was cold."

"Hey!" says the leader, "enough chit chat, we didn't come here to talk about the weather, we're here checking records, to see if we can see anything." He shakes his head and mumbles under his breath, "I can't believe the boss sent you two idiots with me…"

"What was that boss?"

"Nothing, keep reading!"

"Sheesh!" The two lowly henchmen give each other weird looks, like what's his problem?

"Well, I don't think we're going to find her in here, these records are too old. I think we're going to have to go to each individual town hall and look at their records. Assuming these small towns even have town halls."

"What if they don't?"

"We watch the town for a couple of days; we know what she looks like, see if we see her."

"Where should we go first?"

"Well we're here in Cochrane," he points to a dot on a map, "the closest town is to the west of us we are going to go to Driftwood."

"And what if she's not there?" the one asks.

"Then we keep heading west, we got to Smooth Rock Falls."

"And what if she's not there?" the other asks.

"OH MY GOD! We keep heading west, we go to Departure Lake, and then to Moonbeam, it's not that difficult to figure out! We keep heading west until we find her!" He grumbles and walks away, "How did I get stuck with these two?"

The two remaining men look at each other, the one says, "what if she's not there?"

"Yeah, what if she's moved again…"

"For our sakes, I hope she hasn't moved."

* * *

Holly and Gail enter the safe house, Gail closing the door and locking it. She leans against the door, "that was worst then a night at the Penny answering stupid trivia questions with my roommates."

"You and your friends have trivia night?"

"Yes we do Holly, but that's not the point. We spent a whole night there and nothing, we found out nothing. Either Jack and Erin are very good at pretending to be a boring normal couple and are really good at their jobs or they are really a boring normal couple," Gail says truly frustrated.

"How often do you guys play?"

"I don't know Holly, usually when we all coincidentally have the same night off." Gail huffs. "Are you even listening to me?"

"Sure. We found nothing at Jack and Erin's, you are clearly disappointed about that, but when we get back to Toronto you and I are going to trounce all over your friends at trivia."

"Oh," says Gail tilting her head to the side. "You would be rather good at trivia, with you and your fun facts." Gail immediately scheming in her head, "we could crush them; we'll just have to figure out a way for us to play for the same team."

Holly gets a mischievous smirk on her face, Gail looks at her confused, Holly walks over to Gail pressing her body into Gail's and trapping her against the door, "oh honey, we already play for the same team…" Gail can't help but smile, liking this side of Holly.

Gail whispers, "I didn't like the way our evening began, but I think I'm going to like the way it's going to end."

Holly lightly puts her lips on Gail's. She drops her voice, "should we try to make our night better?"

"I think we should." Both women smile into the kiss.

* * *

Holly's belly touches Gail's, "I like it when your belly touches mine."

"Yeah?" questions Holly, who purposely brushes her belly against Gail.

Gail involuntarily shivers, "yeah. You're beautiful." Gail shivers from the brush, the contact, from Holly.

"Yeah?" Holly still hovering over Gail to the best of her ability, looking closely into Gail's eyes.

"Yeah," smiles Gail looking into Holly's eyes, seeing all the love pouring out of them, "I love you."

Holly's eyes go wide, she shakes her head and quickly lies on her back, knowing what she heard but wanting to hear it again, just to be sure, "you what?"

"Love you."

Holly bursts into tears.

"What's wrong?" questions an alarmed Gail, now hovering over Holly.

"Stupid hormones…I love you too," Holly confesses.

Gail gets a stupid smirk on her face, "who wouldn't?"

"Come here," Holly grabs Gail and pulls them together.

Gail is slightly confused, "didn't I say I love you already?"

"Yes, but that was in the bath tub and you were quiet intoxicated, and I wasn't even sure if you would remember or not, so you saying it again, took me off guard is all."

"It's true though," Gail insists. "I do love you."

Holly trying to control the stream of tears, Gail being extremely patient, always patient with Holly, continues to lie close to Holly, soothingly rubbing Holly's arm. "You okay?" Gail asks softly. Holly nods her head, the tears have stopped, they didn't last for long, just happy tears, but she's still feeling emotional. "If this is going to be how you react every time I say I love you, I don't have to say it now that you know it…"

Holly places a hand on Gail's face, "I don't know why I reacted like that," completely surprised whit her own reaction, "I don't normally cry this much. Right now it feels like I could cry at the drop of a hat."

Gail wipes away some of Holly's tears, "it's okay. We all express emotions differently." She places her hand on Holly's belly, the baby's house, "especially when you are housing another life." The two smile sweetly at each other. "I love you."

"I love you." The two continue to lie facing each other in their little bubble.

* * *

Thanks for reading.


	21. Chapter 21

"You all should have a birthing plan. Where you are going to give birth, is it the hospital or your house or somewhere else?" Ms. Dunn continues to talk. The three couples are sitting on the floor of the library, the pregnant women and Erin, (Gail still thinks it's suspicious that Erin and Jack are there, at this birthing class as well as Moonbeam, no matter how boring they are), sitting in front of their respective partners.

Gail leans over to Holly and whispers for only Holly to hear, "I helped a lady give birth once in her home, my partner for the day and I brought a little baby boy into this world."

Holly turns to Gail, "Honey, I love you, but I'm not letting you deliver the baby, I want professionally trained people, not you and your partner for the day."

A warmth washes over Gail, Holly loves her, it's new for Gail. She knows some people love her like her family or her work family, but they have to love her, sort of, but Holly doesn't have to love her, but she does. Gail is beyond excited. Holly turns back around to face Ms. Dunn. "Just saying…" Gail tries to cover up her laughter by hiding her smile behind Holly's shoulder. Gail was not offering but curious to see how Holly would react to the fake suggestion.

Ms. Dunn, "both Dorothy and I are trained to be mid wives, so if you do get stuck feel free to call one of us, the hospital is a good half hour away, especially coming into the winter season, it could take longer..."

"Yes," agrees Dorothy, "now lean back into your partners, and partners you need to support them. Go ahead and put your hands on their bellies."

Holly clarifies for Gail, "the baby's house."

Gail smiles and kisses Holly's head, "thanks for the clarification." Gail can feel Holly laughing as she guides their hands to her belly.

* * *

"Gladys and Heather can you wait one second, I need to talk to you two," Dorothy says.

Gail and Holly walk past Keith and Stacey, Keith quietly says, "uh-oh, someone's in trouble."

Gail thinks for a second, _oh no, what did I do? Maybe Dorothy saw me slip those Hershey kisses into Keith's diaper…_

"Hey Dorothy, what's up?" asks Holly.

"Dan and I are at a hockey tournament with the boys all next weekend and normally Eve stays with my parents but they're going to be in Toronto for the next week and a half, doing some sightseeing and Christmas shopping, don't tell the kids that though, who am I kidding they probably already know…so I was wondering if you two wouldn't mind watching her for the day and maybe the night, you have a spare room with a bed, right? Who am I kidding as long as Gladys is there she'll willingly sleep on the floor," she half laughs.

Holly looks at Gail, who shrugs her shoulders, like 'we've got nothing on the go next weekend.'

Jack and Erin walk over to the three, overhearing the conversation, Erin jumps in, "Jack and I can watch Eve."

Dorothy scrunches up her face, "I was asking Heather and Gladys, Erin. I appreciate the offer and not that I don't trust you, but Eve feels really comfortable with them…"

Gail cuts in, even though she enjoys watching people scramble, she decides to save Dorothy from having to say a flat out 'no' to Jack and Erin, "yeah, we'll we watch her," agrees Gail.

"Thank you, you two are life savers." Erin looks dejected as she grabs Jack's hand and walks away. "I feel so bad saying 'no' to them, but Eve said she'd rather stay with you two."

"The kid has good taste," jokes Gail.

"Thanks again, I have to finish tidying up, I'm sure I'll see you two sooner, but if not, see you next Friday." Dorothy walks over to a bin where she drops in some toy babies.

Holly grabs Gail's hand as the two make their way to the exit and start their walk back to the safe house, "that's nice of you to allow Eve to hang with us."

Gail chuckles at Holly's 'cool' words she's been picking up from her students. "Yeah, we spent an evening with Jack and Erin and it was awful, imaging having to spend a day with them, I couldn't let the poor child suffer." Holly rolls her eyes at Gail. "Plus they still seem shifty and if Eve doesn't like them that much-"

"Dorothy didn't say that," Holly comments.

"She didn't have to, kids are a good judge of character," Gail states.

* * *

"What are you going to do while I'm at parent teacher interviews?"

"Oh, is that today? I was hoping to go dancing…" Gail pouts.

"You wanted to go dancing, with me?" questions Holly.

"Yes," Gail shrugs her shoulders and slowly walks over to Holly, placing her hands on Holly's hips, making them move to an invisible beat in her head.

Holly laughs, "I'm not so sure I should be going out dancing." Holly shuts it down. "Plus, I have to be at school." Holly kisses Gail's cheek.

"Yeah, okay," agrees Gail. "You can't really blow that off; all those parents are going to want to meet their little darling's teachers."

"Exactly," laughs Holly.

* * *

Holly met one too many people tonight, normally she doesn't mind meeting new people, but even she has her limits. The pregnancy didn't help either that's for sure, once the parents noticed she was pregnant they all had to ask how far along she was, don't these people talk to their kids or pay attention to the town's gossip, wouldn't their son or daughter have mentioned to their guardian that one of their teachers is pregnant. The parents even dared to ask if they could touch her belly…as they already leaned over to do so. Holly now needs her space; she needs no one to touch her for the rest of the day, maybe the next week, too much human contact.

Holly enters the safe house to music with a heavy beat blaring. She shuts and locks the door. She walks into the kitchen, where the music's coming from, and sees Gail bouncing to the beat, holding a drink in her hand. She sees some glistening sweat on Gail's body and swallows hard. "Uh," Holly shakes her head, clearly distracted with Gail, who's moving seamlessly to the music, "um," she starts again, losing all her words being completely distracted, "uh," she tries again, this time getting Gail's attention who greets Holly with a big smile, "what's going on in here?"

"Well," says Gail, as she starts to dance towards Holly, who has now dropped all her stuff on to the floor, forgetting how arms and counters work, "I had that idea to go dancing, and I figured by the time I could find a place to go to, it would be just as easy to dance here." Gail's confused by the look on Holly's face, "is that okay? I probably should have asked first, this being your place too, but you weren't here-"

"Oh yes," Holly swallows again as she looks Gail up and down, appreciating how her clothing is currently clinging to her skin, emphasizing everything. "Definitely okay."

"Good," agrees Gail as she brings herself to stand in front of Holly. "Want to dance?" Gail's eyes never leaving Holly's as she reverently places her one hand on Holly's waist, the other still gripping her drink.

Holly gulps, completely forgetting about her inner turmoil of wanting no one to touch her, and now all she wants is to dance as close as possible to Gail, "yes please."

Gail gives her a toothy grin, spins them around to drop her glass on the counter, and placing her other hand on Holly's waist, happy to finally dance with Holly.

* * *

It's Saturday. Everyone loves a nice day or two off a week. Gail and Holly are sitting in the kitchen in some afternoon sun that streams in from the back windows, enjoying each other's company. "That's my kitty," states Gail.

"No it's not; I dealt, so it's my kitty."

Gail thinks for a second and nods her head, "you're right, sorry," she cuts the deck for Holly to turn over a card. The two begin to play out their hands. Just as they're counting out their points Gail's phone rings. She glances at the caller id and says to Holly, "it's Steve." She hits talk, "one second." She places the phone down as she moves her peg to mark her points.

Holly gets out of her chair, "you can talk, I need to go pee."

Gail picks up the phone, "what's up?"

"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

"Just a game of cribbage."

"Ah, crib, fond memories playing that eh?" jokes Steve.

"Ha," laughs Gail, "our weekly three hour block of playing crib to teach us strategy, at least that's what Grandma Peck said, I think she secretly wanted to spend time with us."

"Weird eh?" The two siblings laugh. "And look how well it's done."

"Any updates," asks Gail.

"Yes and no," Steve hates sharing the bad news with his sister, still feeling terrible for letting her cover get blown in the first place, and knowing she wont be home for at least another month. "The people after Holly have gone quiet, we have lost track of them-"

"Stay vigilant," says Gail out of habit, completely peeved that the police lost of track of their potential attackers. _So Holly's criminals are still out looking for her_ , Gail surmises.

"Right," agrees Steve. "And the gang that you infiltrated, we now have someone on the inside and he says they have given up trying to find you, which could mean a number of things."

"Why would they stop looking for me?" Gail is quite confused; she pissed off a lot of people there. She was only under cover for a couple of months, but the intel she was able to give to the police, and the various take downs that occurred from that intel led to a lot of arrests, she's not sure how they figured out it was her telling the police, so hopefully the new guy inside will be safe.

"We're not sure yet," Steve answers honestly. "Maybe they don't care anymore and have forgiven you-"

"Pfft, unlikely."

"Yeah, or maybe they already know where you are and now they can take their time to best strategize when to grab you."

Gail takes in a sharp breath, not really liking any of these scenarios. "So what do I do?"

"That's just it," says Steve. "We don't know what they're up to, someone had said that you could actually come home, but I figured you wouldn't leave Holly."

"No I wont," agrees Gail. Speaking of, and realizing there is nothing she can do to help further this investigation, she changes topics slightly. "So you got to meet Holly's parents," Gail floats the comment out there, hoping to learn something about them.

"Yes," responds Steve.

"And-" Gail prompts.

"After I explained the situation, tell them everything that I could tell them without risking anything terrible, they decided they want to meet whoever is protecting their daughter, and thank them in person."

"Oh," says Gail. She knew she would have to meet Holly's parents at some point with the way things are going with Holly, but she's not sure how she feels about being thanked to be with their daughter. Gail not wanting to discuss this changes the topic again, "what are you guys up to for Christmas?"

Steve pauses. "The usually, Peck family dinner."

"I get to miss it this year for a very good reason," brags Gail.

"Normally I wouldn't be jealous of you for being away for five months but I am now." Once again the two siblings laugh.

"What are you getting Leo?"

"More importantly what am I getting his mom?" Steve ponders. "Kids are easy to buy for, he's been hinting at the new hockey video game since his version is a couple years old, he was complaining he doesn't even have Connor McDavid yet."

Gail laughs, "it's like you guys are depriving him."

Steve laughs too, "exactly, that's how he makes it seem." Steve pauses for a minute, daring to ask the question, "what are you going to get Holly?"

"Who says we're celebrating Christmas?"

"Oh come on Gail, don't be like that. It's your first Christmas together, you have to get her something."

"Yeah, I guess," agrees Gail.

Steve, notices his sister didn't deny the fact that she and Holly are together, fist pumps the air in his office. Pretty damn pleased with himself. "Well, if you need any advice, I'm only a phone call away."

"Ah, thanks but no thanks big brother, I think I can figure something out."

"Okay, well I should get going, let you get back to your game of crib."

 _Crib,_ Gail thinks, _that's an idea._

* * *

"Hello Gladys!" Mrs. Crane calls from her front porch.

"Hi Mrs. Crane, how are you today?"

"Just fine dear."

 _She must be,_ thinks Gail, _she didn't call me Blondie._ "What are you doing on the front porch, isn't it getting too cold to sit outside?"

"This isn't cold," states Mrs. Crane.

Gail's worst fears coming true, it already feels too cold for Gail and it's only going to get colder. She doesn't know how much longer she can do this mail route in these freezing cold conditions, that apparently isn't cold yet, she's already wearing a layer of wool, next week she'll definitely be wearing two. Toronto doesn't get this cold, gets sort of protected by the Great Lakes, having a more moderate winter, which Gail prefers. People who like the cold astound her. Who in the right mind willingly likes this? Gail shakes her head. "Someone at the Post Office said you needed some help today."

"Yes, I need some stuff done inside today," Gail smiles to herself, happy to be out of the cold for a little bit, as she follows Mrs. Crane into her house.

As Gail helps Mrs. Crane with the chores, she decides she's going to ask a question that's been bothering her for some time now. "Did Ms. Dunn have a sister named Gail?"

Mrs. Crane stops what she's doing and looks at Gail, "oh wow, I haven't heard that name in years…to answer your question, yes. They were really close. Where one was the other was too. Then Ms. Dunn, as you call her, I've always called her Annette, met Henri and the two had Annie, and it was about that time that Gail was gone."

"Oh," says Gail, now having even more questions. Most importantly, "what do you mean by gone?" So used to death in her line of work, she asks, "like dead? I think someone mentioned she was deceased."

"No I mean gone, no one knows where she went. Maybe it's just easier for Annette to think of her as deceased. And shortly after that Henri left Annette. She was a wreck. Mourning the loss of her sister, not knowing what happened and assuming the worst, did she leave of her own reasons? No one knows…" she lets the thought hang there. "Then Annie comes along and Henri leaves. As a community, we all felt so terrible for her, not knowing what we could do to help. Annette was already head librarian at that point, so I watched baby Annie sometimes for her, but," Mrs. Crane shakes her head, "we all wanted to do so much more, we just didn't know what she needed." She pauses, remembering. "And now Henri is back."

Gail stunned with all this information, getting more information than she ever hoped. Gail repeats, "and now Henri is back."

* * *

In a store in Moonbeam one of the bad guys is buying supplies, he overhears someone in the next aisle talking about the Gilberts who are newer to town. He has a brain wave, _new people in town, who purposely moves up north to a town where nothing is going on?_ He hears that they bought the old Reid's house. He goes back to the car and tells the boss, "we should check the town's record for the last name Reid. I have a hunch we will find her there."

* * *

Thanks for reading.

Happy Thanksgiving, enjoy the long weekend!


	22. Chapter 22

Eve is spending the weekend with Holly and Gail. Holly is in the kitchen preparing breakfast, Eve has been waiting patiently colouring quietly at the kitchen counter, but now Holly can see the little girl is getting impatient as she waits for the blonde upstairs to wake up. Holly looks at the clock and sees it's almost 10, she directs Eve upstairs to wake Gail up. The girl gets a huge smile on her face, excited to wake up Gail. She rushes up the stairs; she quietly opens the bedroom door. She sees Gail lying on her stomach in the dark room. She lets out a little gasp. Gail's cop ears kick in and senses someone in the room, she can hear the little footsteps and then feels the bed dip slightly. "Time to wake up Gladys," says Eve as she gently shakes Gail's shoulder.

"I don't want to go to school today," Gail jokingly mumbles.

Eve laughs, "you're not going to school, you're too old."

Gail opens one eye, "five more minutes," she tries to bargain.

"But then that's five less minutes we get to play together."

"Play? No school?" Gail immediately gets out of bed throwing the sheets on top of Eve. "Eve," she says, "what are you doing still in bed? I thought we were going to go play?"

Eve immediately untangles herself from the sheets and chases after Gail who is already pounding down the stairs.

Gail enters the kitchen and sees Holly flipping pancakes; she kisses her on the cheek. "Eve, if you would have told me Heather was making pancakes; I would have been here sooner."

Holly smiles, "don't tease her honey, she's been waiting very patiently for you."

Gail opens her mouth, going to say something, but stops, realizing she shouldn't. She complies, "yes dear," she says instead, which gets a giggle from Eve.

"You two are funny," she scrunches up her face, "I don't even know what you're saying half the time."

Both Holly and Gail laugh. Holly turns back to the stove and Gail gives her a hug from behind, snaking her hands around to rest on the baby's house, she rests her head on Holly's shoulder, "did you need help with anything?" Gail offers.

"No, I'm good. Thanks honey."

"If Heather doesn't need help, Gladys you can help me colour," Eve suggests.

"Okay," says Gail. She kisses Holly's cheek and releases her hold. Gail sits on the stool next to Eve, "what are we colouring?"

"We're making Christmas cards for my family," shares Eve excitedly.

"Okay," says Gail as she picks up some colour pencils. "Speaking of, your parents took your brothers to a hockey tournament?"

"Yeah, they're boring."

"Don't have to tell me," mumbles Gail. "I had to sit through one too many for my brother."

"I usually stay with my grandparents but they're on vacation in Toronto, they said they were sightseeing, but Tommy told me they're probably Christmas present shopping, I hope they buy me something cool."

 _I wonder why Toronto?_ thinks Gail. _If they're just going Christmas shopping they could have easily gone to Thunder Bay or Sudbury._

* * *

Holly's lying on the couch with her head in Gail's lap. Gail's watching something on tv, running her fingers through Holly's hair. Holly has her eyes closed, she feels as if she has no care in the world, as long as Gail continues to play with her hair. She brought Eve back to the safe house yesterday after school, and it's been nonstop since then. Eve is currently asleep in the guest room, Dorothy or Dan is supposed to come by tomorrow to get her. Holly doesn't know how they do it, she's spent. She was only watching one kid, they have four. Holly doesn't know how she's going to do with one baby. She sighs, which leads to a yawn. She's curled up on her side enjoying this peaceful moment with Gail. She sighs again.

"You should probably go to bed," says Gail.

Holly hums. "I will, but this is nice." Holly sighs again. "I'll go up when you go up."

Gail smiles to herself, happy to see Holly so content. Gail knows Holly's been getting a lot more tired faster. Gail fakes a yawn. "I'm ready for bed."

Holly slowly opens one eye, "I lied, I'm not moving."

Gail laughs. "Come on babe, you already have your pjs on, you just have to walk up the stairs."

"That was smart to make Eve get ready for bed before the movie."

Gail nods her head, "I learned that from watching Leo, Traci's son. What was even smarter was having you get ready too."

Holly hums again, not even going to argue that fact. "Okay I'm ready."

Gail slips out from under Holly's head and stands, ready to offer Holly assistance if she needs it. "We have a whole day to do nothing tomorrow."

"Thank goodness," says Holly.

"What do you mean thank goodness? You have one more week of school, and then you're off for two weeks, while I'll be outside in the cold with probably three layers of wool on, still freezing my ass off."

"Oh I'm so excited, two weeks to sleep in. Ah…I can hardly wait." Completely ignoring the fact that Gail probably will be out there in the freezing cold, all she can think about is the prospect of being able to sleep in.

Gail smiles, Gail knows that Holly has becoming more and more tired; she has about two months left of her pregnancy. She hopes they get back to Toronto soon.

* * *

Dan came by to get Eve early afternoon on the Sunday. Holly was dozing on the couch, as Gail and Eve coloured at the coffee table; she was colouring but gave up enjoying the idea of lying on the couch. After Eve and Dan left, Gail heads into the kitchen to grab Holly her pills. She hands over a glass of orange juice and a handful of pills. Holly scrunches up her face as she sits up, not excited about the idea of having to take all these pills. She stares at them in Gail's hand, "I have only been taking three, what's that one?"

"It's an iron pill."

"Why can't I just eat more beef?" questions Holly.

Gail smiles at her sympathetically and sits on the coffee table to face the brunette, "the last couple of times we had steak it didn't sit well with you…."

"There are other ways to get iron then just taking a pill," Holly snaps.

Gail kind of taken aback leans away, only trying to help. "We could go get spinach from the store or some beans…"

"We?" questions Holly.

"Me?" asks Gail.

"Okay," agrees Holly.

"Fine," sighs Gail, "but you have to take that pill for now."

Holly scrunches her face, "okay, this pill now, but iron rich foods next time," Holly happy to have some say over her body.

"You drive a hard bargain," Gail jokes, trying to lighten the situation, just happy that Holly is going to take the pill, only wanting what's best for Holly.

Holly not sure what to do, Gail takes such great care of her, knowing this is not what the blonde is normally supposed to do with her undercover assignments, Holly says the only thing she can really say, "thanks."

"Anytime." Gail stands up, looks at her watch, "well if I'm going to be getting spinach, I'd rather go now before it gets too late. Do we need anything else?"

"Peanut butter," says Holly.

"You used up all the peanut butter already?"

"Yes, peanut butter is fucking delicious."

"I thought we were going to stop swearing?"

"No, you want to stop swearing, plus, how can you not swear when talking about peanut butter? It's so fucking delicious," Holly repeats herself.

Gail smiles, "you're weird."

"You like it."

Gail doesn't argue that fact, "anything else?"

"Maybe some cheese puffs."

"Oh, that's a givin' between you and I eating them, we go through them like crazy." Gail smiles to herself, "remember when you thought they were disgusting?"

"How could I have been so wrong…" The two laugh.

* * *

Gail picks Holly up from the school; they have an appointment with the baby doctor in the 'city'. Still referring to the 'city' as a 'city' makes them laugh, they wonder what any of these 'city-slickers' would be like if they went to a big city. But they figure, if it works, it works. They take the half hour drive to the doctor's office, where they don't wait that long and get to go in right away.

"Any complications?" asks Dr. Jeans.

Holly shakes her head, the doctor looks at Gail, who also shakes her head, "she's just more tired is all, but that's normal for this far along."

The doctor smiles at Gail's answer, "that's good to see you know what Heather's going through Gladys, some spouses don't bother reading any of the pregnancy or parenting books, it's easier for us doctors to know our patients have a reliable partner." Holly smiles, and reaches out to hold Gail's hand. Gail walks closer to Holly so they can hold hands. The doctor, checks the chart to make sure she didn't miss anything, "any questions or you two ready to see this little baby? Judging by the smiles on your faces, I'd say you're ready."

The doctor gets the equipment ready, gets the gel out and nods her head to Holly to lift up her shirt. The doctor rubs the gel on Holly's belly, without fail it makes her shiver; the cool gel on her skin, the doctor apologizes even though there's nothing she did wrong. The doctor rubs the wand around Holly's belly while looking at the screen to see where they can best view the baby. The doctor laughs when she sees the baby's face.

"What?" questions Gail, slightly concerned.

"Oh, sorry to worry you," the doctor muffles another laugh, "it's just your baby has their tongue out." The doctor tries to get a better shot of it, "here," the doctor points to the screen, "look here. You can see the baby's little tongue; it just looks like your baby is sticking their tongue out at us."

"That is funny," smiles Gail as she sees the little baby in Holly's abdomen.

Holly sighs, no matter how well she feels, she still gets nervous about going to these appointments, and never feels better until the doctor shows them the baby and says everything is 'okay'. "That is funny," Holly agrees.

The doctor explains, "we're not sure why babies stick out their tongues at this age, we also really have no way of knowing, but we assume it's to taste your amniotic fluid." The doctor knows to allow a few moments of silence, allow the parents to be to soak in the little one. After giving adequate amount of time she asks, "any other questions for me?" Both shake their heads. "Well you have my number if anything arises. But, everything looks good, baby's healthy, mom's healthy, keep doing what you're doing."

"Thanks doc," says Gail as Dr. Jeans leaves the room. Gail turns back to Holly who is still staring at the monitor. "He's cute," says Gail.

"Or she," adds Holly.

"We could find out…" tempts Gail.

"Why? Only two-ish months, then we'll know for sure."

Gail wanders closer to the monitor hoping to see something, anything to help ease the itch in her head on wanting to know if Holly's having a boy or a girl. "Hey!" Holly says to get Gail's attention, "hey honey, could you help me up over here," she knows she can get up on her own, but if it gets Gail away from the monitor, she'll take it. "I really do appreciate everything you've been doing for me," says Holly as she grabs Gail's arm to help pull herself up. "Like the extra grocery trips or reminding me about my medication, I am just very thankful."

"I don't mind," Gail shrugs her shoulders, trying to play it off.

Holly studies Gail's face, making sure Gail means it and making sure that she won't begin to resent her with all this extra work. "Well…okay honey. But one of these days I will pay you back. One of these days you're going to really need me and you're going to have to let me help you."

Gail once again shrugs her shoulders, "okay."

"Okay then," says Holly, happy to know she will one day assist Gail with something, but until then, "would you mind helping me down?"

* * *

"Honey!" Holly tries to catch her breath, "Gail, I need you to stop."

After one last lick, Gail lifts her head, "you sure?" Gail asks as she licks her lips.

Holly shudders as they lock eyes, seeing that smug smile on Gail's face, "yes, I need to catch my breath."

"Suit yourself," Gail kisses the inside of Holly's thigh, she smiles sweetly at Holly, "but since I'm in the neighbourhood…" Gail flops onto her side next to Holly's baby belly. "Hi baby!" Gail reaches her hand out and rubs Holly's abdomen, "how's it going in there?"

Holly reaches her hand down to touch Gail's head, wanting some contact with the blonde.

"Being good to your mum?" Gail slowly moves her hand around Holly's taut skin, waiting and wanting to feel the baby move. Gail feels some movement and grins up at Holly, they lock eyes, Holly moves her hand to cup Gail's cheek, Gail turns her head to kiss Holly's palm. As Gail looks back at the baby's house she sees a tiny little foot pushing into Holly's skin, Gail gasps. "Holly look! The baby's foot!"

Holly tries to maneuver herself to see it, but can't contort herself that way, "describe it to me," asks Holly.

Gail brings her hand to touch the foot, she uses her finger to trace it, in a soft and sweet voice full of awe, "there's a really tiny heel," Gail moves her finger upward, "and a really tiny instep," she dots the five toes, "really tiny toes," Gail continues to trace the baby's foot, "it's perfect," declares Gail. Gail leans in to kiss the small foot. "I think I'm already in love," she whispers.

* * *

Gail's back at the safe house on Friday afternoon after her mail route, she's sipping some hot tea she just made. She takes her cup into the family room and sits on the couch. She grabs the tv remote and is ready to relax. She's just about to turn on the tv when there is a knock at the door. _That's weird,_ she thinks. She sets her cup down on a coaster and goes to answer the door. There's some man on the other side of the door, he smiles warmly at her, "would Mrs. Gilbert be in?"

Gail playing her part answers, "yes, I'm Mrs. Gilbert." She looks the man up and down, not sure who he is, or how he knows her name. She asks, "is there anything I can do for you…sir?" Calling him sir in hope of him revealing his name.

"Would you be willing to show me your id, I have some very important information for Mrs. Gilbert and I just want to make sure it gets to the right person."

Gail thinks for a second, she has no clue who this guy is, she has no clue what he's doing here, but he's clearly fishing for something. She decides showing him some id might be a good idea, since the people tracking Holly are in the wind. Showing them that she in fact is Mrs. Gilbert maybe will deter the bad guys, throw them off their trail. Gail grabs her wallet from her coat that was hanging by the door, she passes over her new 'Gladys Gilbert' driver's license and watches the man's face. Gail saw exactly when the man's face dropped, when he realized that she was in fact Mrs. Gilbert.

Not knowing what to do next, he asks, "is your husband home?"

"No," Gail says, "no husband here."

"Okay," the man clearly disappointed he didn't find Holly, now has to go back to the boss and tell them they need to keep looking. "Well, I should get going."

"I thought you said you had some information for me?"

"Oh, yeah. It will…be delivered later…" completely lying, not having any information, but wanting to get out of there so that him and the crew can continue their search. "I was just here to check credentials; someone will be by later tonight."

Gail knows this guy is lying, but for whatever reason he looks vaguely familiar. "You look familiar, do we know each other?"

The guy completely out of his element goes with the classic, "I get that a lot; I must have one of those faces."

"I guess," Gail studies the stranger on her door stoop, examining him to the best of her abilities, scanning him from head to toe, when she notices something. _Shit,_ she thinks. "Well, bye." Gail quickly shuts and locks the door. She runs upstairs so she can see the guy through the second storey window. She watches him get into a car, she memorizes the license plate, and thinks, _I need to warn Holly, but how do I do that?_ She snaps her fingers. _I'll call the school._

* * *

Holly is actually enjoying teaching these kids, she never thought about becoming a teacher, but when she returns to Toronto she may look into being somehow involved with some school, whether university, college or high school. All the kids are currently excited because it's the last day before Christmas break, two whole weeks off without any school. Holly is in the middle of a lesson, when the PA system beeps in her classroom. "Hello? Mrs. Gilbert?"

"Yes?" answers Holly.

"Your wife is on the phone and says she needs to talk to you."

"I'll call her back on my prep."

"She says it's urgent."

Holly pauses for a second, knowing Gail has never called her at the school before. "Okay, you can transfer her through to the class phone."

Holly picks up the phone, "I'm kind of in the middle of something," she says rather tersely.

"Hold on nerd, this'll only take a minute." Gail explains everything she's gleaned from the interaction with that mystery fella and how she has sent the plates to Steve to trace for them, she tells her to remain calm and if she feels threatened to call her back. "If anybody wonders why I called, tell them I was warning you about the ice on the roads and with your pregnancy brain, I didn't think you'd remember to call me back." Gail kind of laughs to lighten the mood.

Holly huffs. "Yeah, okay." She sighs. "What should I do?" somewhat nervous, not liking the idea that Gail just talked to these criminals, also fearing that they might still be out there.

"Nothing, act normal. There are only a couple of hours left in the school day and come right here afterwards."

"Okay," Holly says rather unconvinced. Holly whispers, "I love you," realizing her private conversation with Gail isn't all that private with all these eyes and ears paying complete attention to their teacher.

"I love you too," Gail says. "You'll be fine, want me to meet you after school, I can walk over and you can drive us? It'll be like when I picked you up for your doctor's appointment the other day."

"Yes," Holly says immediately. "No, don't do that. I'll be fine. If they're watching the house I don't want them to see you leave and follow you to me."

"Okay," says Gail. Gail thought of that as well, but she desperately wants to be next to Holly to make sure she gets back safely.

Holly hangs up. She turns around and sees she was right; the class' sole attention was on her. "Mrs. G., what was that all about?"

Holly a little frazzled answers coldly, "that was a private conversation." Holly sees the complete look of dejection on the student's face, "My wife was warning me about the ice on the roads, she says it's uh, super slippery." Holly walks back to her desk to pick up her water bottle, needing a minute to compose herself. She takes a sip while thinking about what Gail just said, she stops herself, she needs to not think about that right now. She sets the bottle on the desk and turns her attention back to her students, "where were we?" She picks up right where she left off and continues the lesson.

* * *

Holly makes it back to the safe house with no troubles. She bursts through the door, locking it immediately. "You okay?" questions Gail.

"I think so…"

Gail calmly helps take Holly's coat off, drape it over the hook, giving themselves both a second, and hugs her. "Good." Neither going to let go anytime soon.

* * *

Thanks for reading, im going to be busy for the next little bit, I don't know when I'll post the next chapter,

To the guest who wants marriage, I wasnt really thinking about marriage, but sure why not eh, I'll try to find a way to sneak something in, it's not going to be long, its probably going to be a sentence maybe two, it'll probably be, 'And then they got married.' you'll probably end up shaking your head, but itll be there.

Also, im almost done with 'new name', i have everything laid out generally speaking, i'd say maybe two-ish more chapters in moonbeam, then two-ish chapters in Toronto, then the baby will be born, then I'll probably be done after a couple of scenes with the baby/life after moonbeam, not sure yet, I may do more, haven't decided.

'Meet and greet', Im not sure on that one either, I wrote that at work the other day, i'll try to come up with something besides a single scene in a mop closet, but yeah, we'll see


	23. Chapter 23

I apologize in advance for the Christmas themed chapter in november, this whole extension of seasons is brutal (in my opinion). Insert topical anecdote, I went to disney world at the beginning of august, and I saw Halloween and fall decorations out, it happened to pour so we slipped into a building where there were even more decorations, I asked the person working in there when they started putting out the decorations she said 'the first Halloween themed day is on Friday, so they're getting ready' I kind of shook my head, shes like 'this isn't even that much, by Friday every free space will have something.' She said something like 'she knows its august, but she sees the fall time decorations and sort of expects it to be sweater weather, but theres still two months of summer left.' (That's got to somewhat mess with you.) I then asked when the Christmas decorations go up, apparently on halloween night people will stay late to take down all the Halloween themed decorations and Christmas decorations will start to be put in their place. I had to ask, how about Christmas music? She's like, 'yup' without a smile on her face. Ooof. In other words, spending the day there was enough, I could not work there, props to that lady who does work there

* * *

"What does Steve want us to do?"

"He says to stay put, there's nothing either of us can do. Just to stay low. It's good you have two weeks off, that way you can stay here, and I'll know you're safe."

Holly nods her head. "What about you?"

"I'll keep doing my mail route, see if I see anyone sitting around outside houses, something I should have been doing all along more diligently."

"You're going to go back out there?"

"Uh, yeah, Holly, it's my job. This is what I'm trained to do." Gail pauses, letting her words sink in, knowing some people have a hard time dealing with the fact that police officers willingly walk in to danger. "We have the weekend, then I only have two days, then it's Christmas, then I go back to work for a couple of days again then its New Years, and I get a couple of days off again."

Holly reluctantly nods her head. "Were you able to get anything off of the guy that came to our door?"

"Yes," Gail quirks a smile, "did you piss off the Village?"

Holly sighs, "I truly didn't mean to, I was just doing my job, if I could go back…." Holly thinks, "actually I wouldn't change my actions, I was able to send a lot of people to jail with the evidence I found."

"My girlfriend's a badass, pissing off the Village, you're probably a legend back home," Gail marvels, stringing her arms around Holly's waist.

Holly laughs at Gail's excitement. "How did you know it's the Village?" questions Holly.

"They have that tattoo behind their ear," Gail points to where she means, "kind of foolish if you ask me, we pick them up on our security cameras all the time."

* * *

Between completing her route and Keith's, taking on the role of Santa's elf and reading children's letters to Santa and writing them something back, Gail's week has been somewhat chaotic putting in extra hours, not to mention Holly's been in some sort of mood she can't figure out. On the plus side, Gail now knows that if a child of hers wont tell her what they want for Christmas and they wrote a letter to Santa, she will just make friends with the local post office workers and hopefully gain access to the letter. Gail has never been this excited to go to sleep; she's so tired, she has been thinking about her pillow all day and is about to pull back the bed covers when Holly enters the bedroom and sits on the bed, not dressed yet for bed. "Hey," says Gail.

"Hey," grumps Holly.

"You okay?"

"Peachy."

"Do you need help with something?" asks Gail.

"I pretty much always need help now a days…" mumbles Holly.

Gail walks over to Holly, "here let me help you get your pjs on."

"Fine," sighs Holly.

Gail scrunches up her face, still not used to Holly in this sour mood, and trying desperately to help Holly whenever she can as well as get her out of this mood. Gail patiently takes off Holly's shirt and bra and slips on Holly's night shirt. Holly finally speaks up, "I feel tight."

"Do you want a looser shirt?" offers Gail.

"No," sighs Holly. "It's hard to explain." Gail nods her head and continues. She helps take off Holly's socks and pants as well as her underwear. "I don't want to wear pajama bottoms."

Gail looks at Holly and wriggles her eyebrows, "going to be one of those nights eh?"

"I don't want sex either," complains Holly as she throws down her hands on to the bed. She doesn't know why she snapped at Gail; Gail is only trying to help her. "I'm sorry," says Holly, rather sheepishly.

Gail loves Holly. She loves everything about her, she loves her laugh, how smart she is, but damn she loves her body. Gail has never been involved with a pregnant woman before, she didn't really know what she was getting into, but Gail was completely fine with that and she would do it all over again if it meant these curves. Gail runs her hands up and down Holly's body. Gail loves how plump everything is becoming. She's completely in awe of Holly. Gail looks Holly in the eyes, "you're beautiful." Gail let's Holly absorb the words. "I love you," says Gail.

Holly looks at Gail with tears in her eyes, "I love you too." And sometimes that's all it takes, everything seems to right itself, and Holly helps get her pjs on and Gail finally gets to sleep, curled perfectly around Holly, with one hand resting on the baby's house.

* * *

The three men from Toronto are in their car, "what do we do now?"

"Well," says the leader, "we're essentially back to where we started…and you're sure she wasn't Dr. Stewart?" he asks for maybe the eleventh time, still kicking himself for not going and seeing with his own eyes.

"Very sure, this lady was pale and had reddish blonde hair." The others nod their heads. He asks again, "what now?"

"We keep heading west, we will find her eventually."

The rest mumble their agreements. "Just be careful when driving eh, the roads are starting to get slick."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know."

* * *

Holly's at the grocery store to get some supplies before the stores close for a couple of days for Christmas. Gail insisted that she could go, but Holly said she wanted to get out of the house for a little bit. Gail eventually allowed it, knowing that it gave her time in the safe house alone. Gail rushes around the house, putting up Christmas decorations; she borrowed some extra decorations from Keith and Stacey as well as buying some from the store. She puts up a miniature tree, decorates it with lights and ornaments, she strings lights around the windows and hangs a few candy canes. She hangs three stockings on the tree, one for her, one for Holly, one for the baby. Gail looks in the box to see if there is anything else she wants to put up. She takes the time that Holly is away to wrap her gift, with Holly being on Christmas break, she really hasn't left the house, so Gail grabs Holly's present to wrap.

* * *

Holly gets back to the safe house; she opens the front door and immediately calls inside for Gail to help with the grocery bags. Gail strolls in from the kitchen and sees Holly struggling to get off her coat; Gail slips in behind Holly to help her, "thanks honey." She gives her a kiss on the cheek. Gail slips on her boots and walks outside to grab the groceries from the back of Holly's vehicle, leaving Holly alone in the foyer. Holly looks around and notices the decorations, she smiles, she hasn't really been feeling in the Christmas spirit. If she were at her house, she would have put out her snow globe collection or her Christmas village, something to show the season that she loves so much. Not here in Moonbeam, she hasn't been feeling very festive, she doesn't know if it's the place or that she's so tired all the time or what. She takes her time looking around; she doesn't even notice Gail walking in and out of the house with the various bags of groceries. Gail gives her some time as she puts the food away.

Gail finally walks into the family room; she stands beside Holly, who's been staring at the decorations on the little tree. "I know it's not much," Gail begins.

"Honey it's wonderful," beams Holly, turning to face the blonde.

"I know you mentioned you actually like Christmas, so I figured I could decorate the house….well…this room," Gail smiles sheepishly.

"Thank you," Holly wraps her arm around Gail, allowing herself the ability to still look at the tree. Holly notices a present under the tree, "you got me something?"

Gail shrugs her shoulders.

"It's okay, I got you something too. I'll go get it and put it under the tree." Holly leaves the room and comes back with a shoe box with a bow on top. "I didn't have time to wrap it…"

"I don't mind," says Gail, "you didn't have to get me anything."

"You didn't have to get me anything," Holly states. Gail opens her mouth and closes it, doing her best fish impression. Holly smiles, "you're cute," she pats Gail's cheek.

Gail scrunches up her face. "Did you want to open them up now or wait 'til tomorrow?"

"Let's open them up now, that way we can use yours," Gail wiggles her eyebrows, and Holly laughs, "not like that. What's with you and sex lately?"

Gail laughs, "me? My memory must be awful," she jokes, "but I'm pretty sure it was you who jumped me yesterday when I came inside after my postal route."

Holly blushes, "oh yeah," she giggles. She grabs Gail's gift, "you first," she passes it over to the blonde.

Gail flips open the shoe box, what's inside is more Game Cube games, "whoa, where did you get these?"

"I was talking to Stacey the other day at school about how you and I like to play on this old Game Cube console, and her in Keith had been cleaning out their spare room to make way for the baby, and she came across all of Keith's old games, and she gave them to me. If Keith asks, they were ours all along," Holly conspires.

"Thanks Holly, I'm totally taking that console with us when we finally leave this place," confesses Gail.

"I thought that might happen," smiles Holly.

"Your turn," says Gail as she sets her box aside, going to definitely inspect that better later, she picks up the box she just finished wrapping for Holly and passes it to her, "I know it's not much, but I think you'll really like it…well, I hope you'll really like it," Gail second guesses herself and starts to ramble. "I know I really like shoes and I really like guns, but I thought buying you a gun for the baby was a bad idea-"

"GAIL!" Holly scolds.

"I know!" says Gail, "which is why I didn't buy a gun, just open the gift already…"

Holly systematically opens the wrapping, takes the lid off the box and sees a tiny pair of white Converse shoes, Holly laughs, "you got the baby their first pair of Converse shoes."

"Yeah," Gail smiles, happy at Holly's reaction. "I got white so either a baby girl or baby boy could wear them."

"Good thinking."

"Take them out," Gail prompts.

Holly picks up the shoes and sees a slip of paper, she takes it out to read, "you bought me a crib?"

"Yeah," says Gail. "I don't know when we'll be able to go home, I don't know how much time you'll have to do some shopping, and I thought about getting you more stuff, but then I decided not to because I didn't want to lug it home, and-"

Holly kisses her, "thank you."

"Anytime," Gail rests their foreheads together, "I had it delivered to my house so that my roommates could potentially assemble it for you."

"It's perfect," Holly kisses Gail again, "thank you."

* * *

The Boxing Day newspaper shows up at the safe house's front door, Gail grabs it from the front porch and opens it up, expecting to see a picture of Santa Claus on the front page from the parade, but instead it's a picture of a car crash. Gail recognizes that car immediately. She runs to get her phone and calls Steve right away.

"It says they're all dead," Gail shares.

"You sure?" asks Steve.

Holly's sitting at the kitchen table, watching Gail talk on the phone, slightly excited at the prospect of getting to go home. "That's what it says," Gail says frustratedly.

"Well…stay put, let me find some stuff out, I'll call you back."

"Where else would I go?" sasses Gail.

* * *

Steve doesn't call them back, so Gail and Holly continue on with their Holiday plans, an evening at Dan and Dorothy's house. Gail's not concerned that Steve hasn't called them back, if anything he's right on schedule, he said they wouldn't be home until after Christmas, so according to his timeline any day now they could potentially be going back to Toronto. Gail knows they need to be patient; she'd rather spend more time in Moonbeam, where it's safe then go back to Toronto, where it may not be.

"Have you thought of baby names yet? What if you named the baby after me, Dorothy if it's a girl-"

"Or Dortho if it's a boy?" asks Gail, doing their version of a 'FRIENDS' quote.

"Yeah, it really rolls of the tongue doesn't it?"

"More like clunks…" Gail's eyes sparkle, "what about Clunk?"

Holly smiles, "you're insane, we are not naming our baby clunk."

Gail grumbles good naturedly before she realizes what Holly said, our baby. Gail says it aloud, "our baby."

Holly gives her a lopsided smile reserved only for Gail, "our baby," she repeats as Gail gets closer and places her hands on Holly's belly.

"I'm going to check on Evey," says Dorothy, even though Gail and Holly are clearly not listening to her anymore, as they continue to stare at each other with stupid smiles on their faces, in their own little world, our baby.

* * *

It's New Years Eve and Gail and Holly are at the safe house. They spent the evening with Dorothy, Dan, the kids, and Mrs. Crane. After Mrs. Crane was driven home by Dan and the young kids were sent to bed, Holly and Gail excused themselves to allow Dan and Dorothy some quiet time. Gail and Holly went back to the safe house where they had some quiet time of their own. They're lying on the couch; Holly's back lying against Gail's front. They turned off all the lights so they could enjoy the strung lights around the room. They have the tv tuned into the fake fire channel, not really interested in watching anything, but missing the fire that was burning at their neighbour's house. "What this house is missing is a fireplace, no home is complete without a hearth," Gail thinks aloud.

Holly, who's been lazily playing with their hands, intertwining their fingers and releasing them again and again, hums in response. "Probably why this house doesn't feel like home." The two fall into silence, completely content. "Is it weird that I'm going to miss this though?"

Gail stays quiet, hoping for Holly to elaborate, when nothing more is said, Gail asks, "miss what?"

Holly continues to play with their hands as she expands, "this, you and me doing nothing. Us being here together. When we get back home to Toronto, you're going to have to go back to your police officer job and I'm going to have my baby."

"Oh," says Gail quietly. _Her baby,_ thinks Gail. _Holly's baby…not our baby…not my baby…not Gail's baby…Holly's baby._

* * *

Thanks for reading


	24. Chapter 24

Gail and Holly are still relaxing on the couch, Holly trying desperately to stay up to see in the New Year, Gail tumbling thoughts over and over again and again in her head, overanalyzing the last thing that Holly said. Gail was starting to enjoy the idea of being in this baby's life, have some sort of relationship to the baby; Gail doesn't know what to do. Should she say something to Holly, should she leave Holly alone when they get to Toronto, Gail knows she can't do that, Holly needs all the help she can get right now, she wouldn't leave her. Gail's phone rings, she grabs it off the coffee table, "it's Steve." She hits talk, "it's not New Years yet, I know I'm west of you but there is no time zone change," Gail jokes, "you'll have to wait another hour to wish me a Happy New Year."

"I have even better news," says Steve. Gail's skeptical; she could use some good news right about now, too many thoughts running through her head. "You can come home."

"What?" questions Gail.

"They called off the search for Holly," says Steve, "apparently, she's not worth it. Sure she helped send many people from their crew, their family to jail, but now she has inadvertently caused the death of three men. The leader has decided he can't afford to risk the lives of anyone else; he has already lost too much, one son in jail and one in a grave."

"Oh," says Gail.

"What?" asks Holly.

Steve hears Holly, "I'll see you soon Gail, safe trip back." He hangs up.

Gail has the phone pressed to her ear, slightly in shock. "We can go home," Gail shares.

Holly turns to face Gail, "what? When?"

Gail looks at the clock, "well it's almost midnight, and I don't want to start off driving in the dark, so not right now, but whenever we are ready to go, when can go."

"Let's go now," Holly completely wide awake.

Gail shakes her head, "like I said, I don't want to drive in the dark-"

"Right," says Holly, really excited, "you did say that…can we go tomorrow?"

Gail looks around at the safe house, "if you're up to it…we need to pack up some of our stuff though, because I don't plan on coming back."

"Good idea, let's get started." Holly gets up too fast and sits back down; she looks sheepishly at Gail, "head rush."

Gail smiles and shakes her head, she helps Holly up. "Go ahead lunchbox."

Holly smiles her thanks and starts to collect some of the things she knows she will want to bring back to Toronto with her, like her cell phone that is still sitting in the kitchen drawer, or all of her maternity clothing.

* * *

They eventually make it to bed sometime after midnight; Holly was able to see in the New Year. Gail is curled up on her side facing the wall. Holly's sleeping as close as she can to Gail, her baby belly in-between the two, touching Gail's back. Gail has been having a rough sleep, she keeps replaying the conversation with Holly on the couch over and over in her head, _what does she mean there wont be time for them in Toronto? and a couple of hours earlier it was our baby, I know it's not my baby, that the baby is 100% Holly's but it was nice to think of the baby as being kind of mine, what do I do?_ Gail feels a jab to her back. She knows Holly's out cold and wont feel the movement just yet. Gail turns around and rubs Holly's belly. "Hi baby, I know you want to play, but its bed time right now, don't wake your mum. We have a big day tomorrow, we need to pack, and we're going on a road trip, we're going home…well I'm most likely going to my house, and you and your mum are going to your house…and *sigh* I am going to miss this…maybe that's what Holly meant," Gail thinks aloud. The baby begins to still, but Gail continues to keep her hand on Holly's belly, she finally drifts off to sleep.

* * *

Gail and Holly spend the day packing up the house, wanting to leave it the way they found it. Gail feels uneasy, sure she's happy to be heading home, but things ended rather abruptly. For whatever reason she can't shake the feeling that they're still in danger.

* * *

Gail calls Steve just to make absolute sure they are safe to go home. "Yes Gail I'm sure," says Steve for the second time.

"Let's recap," says Gail, who wants to lay all the facts out, wants to be sure, "the people after Holly have called it off because they don't want to waste anymore lives."

"Yes," agrees Steve, and says, "and the people you pissed off apparently don't care enough whether you're alive or not."

"Which is weird, right?"

Steve pauses, "it kind of is, yes. I mean it's never happened to me before…" Steve can tell his sister seems extremely reluctant, "it'll be fine sis, you'll come home and if you feel in danger we will assign some unis to you."

 _Great,_ Gail thinks sarcastically, _just what I want._ "Fine." Gail looks around and sees Holly who appears to be just about packed, very excited to be going back to Toronto. "We'll either leave today or tomorrow," she tells Steve, it depends on Holly.

"Okay. I'll see you soon."

* * *

They decide to take one more day in Moonbeam, giving them one more rest before they make their trek home. Gail and Holly pack up the car the next day, ready to leave, well, Gail packed up the car, but Holly offered, knowing full well the blonde wouldn't want her help, but it's nice to offer. Gail gets in the driver's seat, "you ready?" she looks at Holly in the passenger seat, who nods her head. "We're not coming back," reminds Gail.

"It's okay," says Holly, "I grabbed everything, I even got the Game Cube." She gets a smile from Gail for that.

"Okay," says Gail as she starts the car, "then let's go." She puts her car into reverse and backs out of the driveway.

"Did you want me to drive?" asks Holly.

"I'm fine; I don't mind driving, but thanks for the offer." See, it's nice to offer.

* * *

The two spend the day driving from Moonbeam to Toronto. What normally is a just about a nine hour drive, took well over twelve hours. Good thing they left early in the morning, getting stuck in traffic and having to drive slow through some snowy patches, not to mention the stops Holly needed to make, Gail was ready to be out of her car. Gail thought this would give them time to talk about their future, but the driving lulled Holly to sleep and she ended up sleeping most of the way. Steve had told Gail to go straight to the station, that he would be there so they could start her debrief and she could get on with her life.

Having texted Steve at their last pit stop, Gail was not surprised to see that he was waiting for her in the entrance of the building. He wrapped her up in a big hug. Gail patted his back, hoping for him to release her, but he kept squeezing. He finally does let go when he sees Holly. "Uh…Gail?" Steve says, "did you know Holly's pregnant?"

Gail makes a show of looking at Steve, then looking at Holly, "what?!" She smiles and smacks her brother on the shoulder, "of course I did."

Steve walks over to greet Holly, "good to see you again Dr. Stewart."

"I'm happy to see you too Detective Peck, but you can call me Holly."

"Steve," says Steve. "Congratulations."

Holly scrunches up her face and looks at Gail, "is he congratulating me for coming home safe?"

Gail smiles, "no, he's congratulating your pregnancy," she looks at her brother, "unless he's congratulating you for surviving living with me for half a year."

Steve holds up his hands, "no, it was the pregnancy, I swear."

Claude Steele coughs from behind Steve, the three look over, "Gail, Holly, would you mind joining me in one of the offices over there."

Gail and Holly nod their heads; Gail looks at Steve, "are you leaving now?"

"No, I'll wait til you come out."

Gail nods her head; she grabs Holly's hand and follows after Claude.

* * *

In debrief, Claude goes over a lot of the things that happened while the two were away in Moonbeam, how they kept tabs on the Village, and were following them as their search spread from Montreal to Moonbeam. He addresses them both, "you two can take off the wedding rings now…" Gail stares down at her left hand; she spins the ring around her ring finger, not completely ready to leave their Moonbeam bubble. Not sure where this leaves them. Gail had the utmost confidence in her relationship with Holly, until recently. Now she has been feeling uneasy about her and Holly's relationship, she fears what comes next. Gail excuses herself from the room, saying she needs to use the washroom; she steps outside where Steve is waiting for her in the hall.

"You done?"

"No," Gail sighs. "I needed a break, I know all that stuff anyways, I'm mostly there for Holly."

"Speaking of, how was Christmas?"

"Fine, how was yours? How are the parents?"

"Mom and Dad are fine. It was quiet; Leo was all mopey without you there." Gail smiles at that. "Did you get Holly anything?"

"Uh…yeah…I got her shoes for the baby."

"What?" Steve laughs, "Gail, babies don't need shoes, they can't walk."

Gail rolls her eyes, deciding she'd rather sit in on the debrief than talk to her brother, "I should go back in there."

"Okay," Steve nods his head, "I'll be here."

* * *

Gail and Holly are finally able to leave, having answered numerous questions from what the people in Moonbeam were like as well as their trip to Winnipeg and what they truly think was going on in that warehouse. They agreed to not talk to anyone about their relocation just yet. "Peck!" Gail stops and turns around, Holly not used to Gail being referred to as Peck keeps walking. She eventually stops when she realizes Gail is no longer with her. "I don't want to see you for two weeks," says Oliver. "I'm happy to see you safe and home darling." Oliver pulls her into a hug, which Gail allows.

"I'll be back in a week," says Gail. She continues to talk knowing that Oliver will want to argue for her to take the two weeks. "I would like to take one now and one next month, if I can, sir."

Oliver catches sight of Holly, noticing she is very pregnant, waiting for Gail, "okay darling, I will see if I can get you any more time so you can help your friend over there."

"Thanks Ollie."

"Oh and Peck?"

"Yeah?"

"Nice hair cut, the short hair looks good on you."

Gail runs her fingers through her hair, forgetting that she cut off her long locks, "thanks." Coming from anyone else Gail probably would have told them to mind their own business, but from Oliver, she'll accept the compliment.

* * *

Gail and Holly are about to leave the precinct, when Dov calls her name "Gail!"

Gail stops and Holly takes a few steps away, allowing Gail to be greeted by Dov.

"Good! You're back! How was it? Oh wait, you probably can't talk about it yet. Doesn't matter. Nice hair cut by the way." Gail doesn't even get a chance to tell him off before he continues to talk. "So, know that you're back and you'll be living with us again, Chris and I were talking and we decided we wanted to up your rent since we've been paying your share of the rent these last couple of months, since we've been paying more we haven't been able to go to the 'Penny' as often, and we want to make up for lost time. So, numbers, we're thinking at least, now bear with me-"

Gail sticks up her hand, stopping Dov's spiel. Gail shakes her head, she catches Holly's eye, who she can see is finding all this amusing with a smile on her face. "I don't think I'll be living with you." Gail knows she's going out on a limb, but she wants to. She glances over at Holly, Gail shrugs her shoulders and Holly nods her head.

"I don't get it," says a confused Dov, "who will you be living with?"

"My girlfriend."

Dov looks to where Gail is looking at and sees a lady, Holly. "Who is that?"

"My girlfriend."

Dov looks at Holly again, "she's pregnant."

"I told her we should use protection," Gail jokes.

Dov repeats himself, "Gail, she's pregnant."

Gail shrugs her shoulders, "I work fast." Holly laughs and shakes her head at the blonde. "Well, it was great seeing you Dov, I'll be by later to get my stuff, actually maybe a couple of days, after that drive I feel like I could sleep forever." She walks over to Holly and picks up her hand, ready to leave.

"Gail," Dov calls again, "who is that?"

Oliver happens to walk by and cuffs him on the back of the head, "keep your voice down Epstein."

Steve walks up to Oliver and Dov. Oliver asks Steve, "did you tell her?"

"Tell her what?"

"You called the Stewarts."

Steve shakes his head, "I forgot, I only told them that Holly was coming home."

"Yeah," says Oliver like he's talking to a child, "and what would a normal parent do that hasn't seen their child or had any communication with their child, their child who has potentially been in danger for over six months do?"

Steve pauses to think, "they would want to see their child." He's quiet for a moment, "shit, I should have told them Holly's parents might be at Holly's."

* * *

"I'll drive you home," offers Gail.

The two get back in Gail's SUV, Holly not sure how to ask decides to just do so, "so you're staying with me tonight?"

Gail pauses for a second, she hadn't really thought about it. It just seemed like the thing to do at the station, that she would be going home with Holly. She loves Holly; she doesn't want to lose Holly. Does she stay with Holly, or go back to the frat house. She needs to go back to her house at some point. So she does what all indecisive people do and shrugs her shoulders, but also says, "yes."

Holly hums. "I am so sore, I need to soothe my muscles, you can explore my house while I take a bath." Gail opens her mouth to object, but closes it knowing that she really does want to explore Holly's house. "And if the bath doesn't work, would you mind rubbing my back? There's this knot," Holly tries to reach back to it in her seat, but she's just thrashing about.

Gail reaches out to touch Holly's arm, "yes I'll rub your back, you need to stop before you get yourself caught in the seat belt," Gail laughs as she hears the seat belt click, knowing Holly activated the child safety lock.

Holly harrumphs as she sits back in her seat. "I'm so glad we are almost done driving. I'm looking forward to that bath."

"Are you sure you can get in the bathtub?"

"You'll be there to help me, plus the guest bathroom's bathtub has a door, you know the one you see on those commercials. The people who lived in my town house before me had their ailing father with them. I still keep in contact with them, they're nice people."

Gail hums. Holly had given Gail her address and was surprised she didn't need to help with directions, Gail seeming to know exactly where she's going. "Do you have street parking?" asks Gail.

"There should be room for your car in my garage," answers Holly.

"Fancy. A garage," Gail jokes.

Holly smiles at Gail, happy to see Gail's silly side back. Holly noticed that something has been bugging Gail, but she just assumed it was the stress of relocating. Holly's hopeful that Gail will be back to her old self. They pull onto Holly's street and get close to Holly's house. "Shit," whispers Holly.

Gail looks over concerned, "what? Seatbelt too tight, unbuckle it and re-buckle it. "

"Um...nothing…it's not my seatbelt…my parents are here."

* * *

Thanks for reading


	25. Chapter 25

Yeah, I did wrap that up pretty fast

I'm glad you're excited for the baby because I may have written a bunch of baby scenes already, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet, I'll probably end up accidentally writing more than the three chapters that I said I would after this one

* * *

Gail pulls into Holly's driveway behind Holly's parents' car. Gail turns off the engine, knowing she will get out of the vehicle to help Holly with her stuff, but they sit in the quiet for a moment. Gail not sure what to say, does this change their sleeping arrangements… "Did you want me to go?"

Holly looks at her concerned, "why?" She reaches over to touch Gail, "you can meet my parents, I mean I thought we had more time, but…"

"No, I get it," Gail sighs, "I'm so tired."

Holly yawns, "me too."

Gail grabs Holly's hand and gives it a squeeze. "Ready?" Gail opens her door and makes her way around the car to help Holly slide out of the SUV. Holly smiles her thanks to Gail. "Should we go in and say 'hi' or do you want me to start bringing stuff in?"

Holly leans into Gail, "my parents don't know I'm pregnant. I might need you as a shield."

Gail laughs, "errrr…nerd, you can't hide your pregnancy anymore, it's uh…" Gail kind of nervous, she goes to twirl her wedding ring, she realizes it is no longer there, she pauses, somewhat lost, she chooses the right words, "it's very obvious."

"No, I know that," Holly sighs, "please come in with me."

"Of course."

* * *

Holly uses her key to unlock the front door, she turns to Gail, "you go in first."

"I don't think your parents would like to see some stranger entering their daughter's house, you need to go in first."

Holly sighs, "it was worth a shot." She looks at Gail who is smiling, clearly enjoying all of this. Holly kisses Gail, she kisses her soundly. Gail slowly opens her eyes, caught slightly off guard by that kiss. Holly sighs again, "okay, now I'm ready," kisses Gail on the lips one last time.

Gail laughs lightly; she lets Holly take her hand for comfort and support. She opens the door; she walks into the sitting room, no one's there, she calls, "mom, dad, I'm home."

She hears from the upstairs, "see Charlie, I told you I heard a car door shut."

Gail laughs again, Holly smiles at her shyly. Two adults appear at the top of the stairs, the lady gasps, clearly excited to see her daughter, the man smiles, just as excited. The two walk down the stairs, "we weren't expecting you until tomorrow," Holly's mom says.

Holly squeezes Gail's hand, "I had a good driver."

"Why did you drive?" asks Holly's dad, "Isn't it faster to catch a flight from the closest airport?"

Gail, who's been kind of shielding Holly from her parents, steps away. Both Stewarts gasp. "You're pregnant!" they exclaim.

"Surprise?" Holly tries.

"When did this happen?"

"It's a Christmas miracle!"

Holly laughs, "I wouldn't go that far…." Holly starting to overheat, begins to wriggle out of her coat, she hangs it up. Her mom finally opens up her arms for her eldest daughter. Holly smiles and good naturedly hugs her mom.

"I've missed you," Joyce whispers, "these past couple of months haven't been the same without your weekly phone call."

"Sorry mom, there wasn't anything I could do." Holly hears her mom sniff back some tears.

"I know dear," she gives her daughter one last squeeze, "your dad missed you too." She releases Holly.

Holly immediately hugs her dad once her mom releases her. "I'm glad to see you are home Hol." Charlie smiles into his daughter's hair. "Who's the blonde?"

Holly laughs, having forgot to make introductions, Holly turns to face Gail, "Gail this is my mom and dad. Mom and dad this is Gail."

Gail sticks out her hand to shake, "it's nice to meet you Mrs. Stewart."

Joyce looks at Gail's hand then back at Gail, "Gail you say?" Gail nods her head, "the police officer named Gail that has been protecting our daughter for the past several months?" Gail nods her head again. Mrs. Stewart pulls her into a hug. "Thank you." Gail's stiff at first, but eventually relaxes. Joyce let's go of Gail but holds onto her arms, "not a hugger eh?" Gail shakes her head. "That's okay. You can call me Joyce." Gail nods her agreement.

Charlie sticks out his hand, "you don't have to hug me," Gail smiles at that, "I'm Charlie, thanks for driving our daughter safely home."

"My pleasure." Gail looks at Holly; she notices how tired she is, she notices her eye lids drooping, realizeing Holly will soon become unstable on her feet, "mind if we sit down?" Holly mouths a 'thank you' to Gail.

They move to the family room area, Holly sits on the couch, and her parents sit on either side of her. Gail sits in an arm chair, happy to observe.

Joyce places a hand on Holly's belly, "how far along are you?"

Holly moves her mom's hand to where she can feel the baby moving, recently woken up when Holly started moving again, "I just entered my eighth month, I'm due in February."

"Oh," says Charlie, "so soon?"

Holly kind of laughs, "it's not soon, it only feels soon to you…cause you just found out…"

"I suppose so," he replaces his wife's hand with his and smiles brightly. He looks at his wife, "we're going to be grandparents again!"

Holly laughs, happy that this is going over so well. After a few more questions like how she's doing and how the baby's doing, Holly starts to yawn. Gail knows Holly will try and stay up to talk to her parents, Gail knows how much Holly has missed them, but she also knows that Holly needs her sleep. Gail stands up from the comfy chair, all three sets of eyes look at her. "Do you have to go officer?" asks Joyce.

Gail smiles, "no, I'm going to stay the night, but Holly looks ready for bed."

"You're going to stay the night?" asks Charlie.

Holly nods her head, "Gail's my girlfriend." She reaches up for Gail's hand to help her up from the couch.

Joyce not happy with the idea of her daughter dating a cop, she scrunches up her face, "hasn't your sister's life taught you nothing, or even this little adventure or experience or whatever you want to call it?"

Gail turns around, "Whoa! Wait, what?" Gail knows that some people aren't always comfortable with her job, but the only one who has to be comfortable with it is Holly, of course Gail wants Holly's parents' approval, but it's not necessary in her books.

"Gail you seem like a very nice person, and I thank you for taking such good care of our daughter but-"

Charlie cuts off his wife, "Did you hear what you just said?"

"What?" asks Joyce, totally irate, ready to brash if she needs to be.

"Repeat what you just said."

"She seems like a nice person?"

"The next line."

"She's been taking good care of Holly?"

Charlie repeats Joyce's words, "she has been taking good care of Holly."

Joyce opens her mouth to object, but closes it, knowing better. "I suppose." She looks at her daughter, "are you happy?"

"I am."

Joyce shrugs her shoulders, "okay then, I'm not fond of the idea, but if you take good care of my daughter and she's happy, then okay."

Charlie stands to give Holly another hug. "Don't worry about your mother." Holly nods her head. "Gail seems great."

Holly smiles at that. "She is." Holly lets go of her dad, "well goodnight."

"I'm going to grab some of our bags from the car that we may need tonight, I'll unload the rest tomorrow," says Gail.

Holly nods her head, "I'm going to head upstairs, I don't know if I want a bath anymore, I'm too tired."

Gail heads outside to grab their clothing bags so they have some sleepwear, knowing Holly probably has no maternity clothing in her house, since she found out she was pregnant in Moonbeam. When she reenters the house Charlie is gone and it's only Joyce in the sitting room. Gail wishes her a good night as she walks towards the stairs.

"Gail?"

She turns around to Mrs. Stewart. "Yes?"

"I apologize. I shouldn't judge you based on your job, it's just…our other daughter is also a cop, and she has been hurt on the job more times than I like and this summer with Holly being whisked away from her life because of- actually I have no idea why she had to leave- but regardless," she throws her hand in the air. "I can see you care for my daughter, and…and I don't know what else to say."

Gail sets the bags down and walks over, "it's okay, I can understand where you're coming from. I do love your daughter, and I hope to stay in her life for as long as she'll let me."

Joyce smiles at that, "good. She seems happy with you, Holly's last girlfriend; I always felt there was something off, but-"

All of a sudden there is a call from upstairs, "Gail!"

Gail internally debating whether she should go upstairs and help Holly or stay downstairs and hear what Mrs. Stewart has to say, Gail knows what she has to do, "I should go help her, goodnight, see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight Gail, and thanks again, I do mean it."

Gail grabs the bags she had just set down and runs up the stairs. She finds Holly stuck in her shirt, having a difficult time removing it. Gail can't help but laugh as she assists Holly.

With the two finally nestled in Holly's bed, after all that, Gail is now not ready to sleep. "Mind if I read?"

"No, you can turn on your bed side lamp, but, could you read aloud? The baby is being rambunctious." Holly rubs her belly hoping to soothe the baby.

"Of course," Gail begins to read her book out loud. After a few paragraphs she stops, "do you want me to tell you what's happening in the book, so you're not lost?"

"Hmmm..." says Holly, who was practically asleep, "I wasn't listening."

"Never mind," says a smiling Gail, as she realizes that the bed time story is going to put Holly to sleep too.

* * *

Gail's back at the frat house, packing up some stuff so she can have some of her clothes at Holly's while she stays there. How long is Gail going to stay there, she doesn't know, does she move in with Holly, is that what Holly wants, is that what Gail wants, yeah Gail wants that. Chris and Dov left for the day, their shift started a couple hours earlier, she messaged them to let them know she would be at the frat house today, so they wouldn't be concerned when they eventually noticed some of her belongings missing.

Gail's in her bedroom filling a suitcase with her clothes, deliberating how much to take. Did she even need to get anything; she had all of her clothing from Moonbeam that was just fine. She mostly wanted to get out of the house, allow Holly some time alone with her parents. There's a knock at the door that Gail barely registers, lost in her thoughts. Holly's parents seem fine with the situation, besides Joyce's initial misgivings; if anything they now seem relieved. Knowing their daughter is going to be living with a cop, especially after the summer, autumn, and winter she just had. She can see where Joyce is coming from though, her slight displeasure at Gail's job, Gail knows her job is dangerous, and she would never do anything to put her or Holly in danger, but she feels the whole cop thing is a discussion for her and Holly to have, not Joyce. They're also super excited to be grandparents again, which is a relief. Gail knew the parents probably have plenty of questions for Holly, so Gail made up some excuse to go to the frat house.

There's a knock on the front door. Gail thinks that's weird, maybe the guys forgot something, but they would just use their key. She thinks maybe it's the landlord, and since she isn't paying the rent she ignores it.

Gail moves into the bathroom where she collects some of her hair products as well as her stash of makeup. She picks up her eye liner, "I missed you," she says aloud. She looks at herself in the mirror. She takes off the cap and applies the eye liner; she smiles at herself in the mirror. She grabs her red lip stick and puts some on too. She gives herself a toothy grin. Another knock at the door. Gail sighs. She decides to see who it is. She sees the crib she ordered for Holly still in its box pushed next to the coat rack, Gail sighs, she should bring that with her to Holly's, maybe Charlie will want to build it. Or Gail still has a couple of days off before she has to go back to work, it will give her something to do while she's at Holly's. Gail looks through the peephole, but doesn't see anyone. She turns around to go back to the bathroom when there's another knock. Frustrated with all this knocking, Gail frantically opens the door to catch whoever's there. Gail's a little surprised, but schools her expression, knowing to not give anything away.

"Hello Gladys…or should I say Gail?" Gail immediately notices the gun shaped object in her unwanted guest's pocket pointed at her.

* * *

Thanks for reading

that's great that you called it, but who is it?

(or did i make that too obvious too)


	26. Chapter 26

"Hello Gladys…or should I say Gail?" Dorothy smiles smugly. Gail immediately notices the gun shaped object in Dorothy's pocket.

"Hello Dorothy."

Dorothy scrunches up her face and tilts her head to the side in confusion, "you don't seem surprised to see me," Dorothy pauses thinking Gail will say something, "no matter." She jiggles the object in her pocket, "is your other half here? Are you two even married, is she even pregnant?" Dorothy trying to find something to potentially get a reaction from the blonde, to give herself the upper hand, but nothing is working so far.

Gail hears a car door slam from the parking lot, slightly nervous that someone is with Dorothy and about to join them, Gail's brain starts to create various solutions in her mind in order to get herself out of this situation. She takes a glance down and notices a water mark appears in Dorothy's pocket where the gun is. _That's weird¸_ thinks Gail, _I have never known of a gun that leaks. Except…_

* * *

Holly clenches her heart and winces, "what's wrong?" Joyce notices her daughter come to a complete stop in the middle of the room.

"Oh," Holly gulps at the air, "nothing, just a little heart burn." Holly rubs her chest out of habit, as if it was a sore and this is going to soothe it.

Joyce smiles at her knowingly, "ah."

"What?" questions Holly.

"Nothing, but I think I'll be able to describe your baby."

"You can tell what gender I'm having just by some heart burn?" Holly questions, "that doesn't sound very scientific."

"No," laughs Joyce, "however, if you do know, I would love to know."

"No," says Holly, "I want it to be a surprise," Holly sighs, having felt like she has said this at least a million times, okay maybe not a million, but it sure feels like it.

Joyce smiles at her daughter and directs her to the couch to let her rest, after Holly has been seated she says, "no, what I mean is, your baby will have a full head of hair. Heartburn before the baby is born is a good indicator of that."

"Oh," says Holly, in a state of Zen with her legs raised and head leaned back on to the couch's arm rest. With her eyes closed she asks, "did you have heart burn?"

Joyce smiles at her daughter, "yes, with you and Yvette. Not with Walter, I wonder why?"

The two Stewart ladies laugh, "it's funny eh, how Yvette and I have full heads of hair and Walter has already lost his hair."

"Yes, it's too bad, but my son does look good with a shaved head."

"Shaved head and a bushy beard."

Joyce makes a face, "I don't know how Tiffany puts up with it, I never liked a beard."

Holly sighs, "it's his appearance mom, he's a grown man, he can do what he wants," feeling like she has had _this_ conversation at least a million times.

"I know, but if he was still little I would have made him cut his beard a long time ago."

Holly laughs, then yawns. "Mind if I take a nap?"

"Of course dear, you do what feels right." Joyce grabs a blanket from the big chair and tosses it over Holly.

Holly smiles, happy to be taken care of, "thanks mom."

"Anytime," Joyce leans down to brush a few stray hairs from Holly's face, "even though you are about to have a baby, you will always be my baby." She kisses her daughter and leaves her to sleep.

* * *

Gail hears a couple of voices that she recognizes, voices that help to alleviate the situation for her. All she needs to do is to keep Dorothy talking, keep Dorothy focused on something besides harming Gail.

"Why don't you seem scared?" questions Dorothy.

Gail kind of shrugs her shoulders, "nothing to be scared about…"

"What does that mean?"

"It means I don't think you can actually harm me."

"What do you mean?" asks Dorothy, she nods to her pocket, "what do you think that is?"

"A water gun, probably one from the library's summer camp," Dorothy's face reddens at Gail's words, "one that I gave to your daughter, Eve," Dorothy's face gets a look of anger at the mention of her daughter. Gail shrugs her shoulders again as she hears the voices get closer, _damn they take a fucking long time to get to our front door,_ she thinks. Gail continues to stare down Dorothy, ready for whatever comes next.

* * *

Holly wakes up from her nap on the couch; she struggles getting off the couch. She looks around expecting to see the furniture that she got so accustomed to in Moonbeam, but realizes she's at her townhouse. She walks into the kitchen for a glass of water, where she finds her parents. "Is Gail home yet?" she asks.

"No, how was your nap?" her mom asks.

"Good," Holly sighs, "did she call?"

Holly's dad shakes his head, "your phone hasn't rung."

Holly and Gail finally exchanged phone numbers the other day when Holly pulled it out of the kitchen drawer in their kitchen in Moonbeam. "That's okay," says Holly, "we're not really accustomed to calling the other." Her parents look at her funny, she explains, "once I found out my phone could be tracked I turned it off and stored in a drawer since the summer, also it was too tempting to call you guys."

"Aw," Joyce stands up to hug her daughter, "come here, I was so worried about you, get over here Charlie." Charlie gets up to hug his daughter and wife.

"Thanks," mumbles Holly. After her parents release her, "I'm going to go call her, just to check in, it's weird her not being around," the last part she mostly says to herself. She goes back to the family room to grab her phone.

* * *

Gail takes a step toward Dorothy to force her backwards, it works, Dorothy takes a step backward, just in time for Chris and Dov to see her as they get closer to their door. Gail hears it, "FREEZE!"

Gail watches as Dorothy gets an 'oh shit!' look on her face, and Gail's face turns into a look of relief, knowing her roommates should be able to handle the situation, she steps back into the apartment and slams the door, for just in case reasons. She doesn't open the door until there is a knock and an "it's safe Gail."

Gail opens the front door, "nice job boys," she congratulates them.

Both men have looks of unrest on their faces, "what the hell Gail?" Gail looks at them like 'what?' "Who is she? And why is she pointing a water gun at you?"

"Maybe she thinks I needed a shower," trying to play it off.

"You're lucky we came back. Come on Gail, help us out here."

Gail sighs, "she was one of my neighbours from Moonbeam," the boys nod their heads, following so far, "but she's originally from North York, her bother is one of the higher ups of the gang Steve had me go undercover in."

Dorothy gasps, like 'how did she know that?'

Gail continues and addresses Dorothy, "I can't believe you followed me home to pull a squirt gun on me, you have a beautiful family and a great life, I can't believe you would throw that all away, just to what, to scare me?" Gail questions Dorothy.

Dorothy looks away, clearly not happy with how everything played out.

"Did your brother set you up for this?" Gail wants to find out more, for her own curiosity and to tell Steve.

Dorothy doesn't answer.

Gail shakes her head at Dorothy, "now they're going to take you back to the station and book you, do you want that to happen? What's going to happen when you call home and tell Dan you're in jail in Toronto, does Dan even know you're here?"

Dorothy shakes her head.

"What do you think we should do here?" Gail asks somewhat rhetorically, "cause these fine officers can book you for threatening an officer…"

Dorothy still doesn't say anything.

Gail keeps talking, "how about we make a deal?" both Chris and Dov gasp, like 'can she do that?' Gail nods her head, "we'll let you go if you talk to someone about your brother." She lets it sit for a minute, still no answer. Gail asks, "did you hear me?" Dorothy nods her head. Gail repeats herself, "is that a deal, you talk to someone about your brother and we'll let you go home to Moonbeam, but if our paths cross again, you'll be in trouble, I wont be so nice next time."

Dorothy nods her head, "I'll answer your questions."

Gail says, "good choice." She looks at Chris who's been holding onto Dorothy's arm the whole time, "let me call Steve, you can take her to the station, I'll tell Steve to meet us there."

Chris nods his head and walks away, Dov stays back to check on Gail, "you good?"

Gail gives him a weird look, "yeah?" She fishes her phone out of her pocket and dials Steve, she asks Dov, "why did are you two here?"

"I forgot the cruiser's spare set of keys on the table," he reaches into their house and grabs the keys.

Dov opens his mouth to say something else but Gail turns her back to him to indicate she's done with him, "Hi Steve, boy do I have a great Christmas gift for you…" Dov gets the hint and she hears him shuffle off to his and Chris' squad.

* * *

Gail's standing behind the one way glass watching Steve talk to Dorothy. Gail's phone buzzed as she was heading into the frat house, she ignored it, she grabbed the two bags that she had been packing up and the crib and put them in the back of her SUV. She followed Dov and Chris to the station to meet Steve there. Her phone buzzes in her pocket again, she looks at Holly's name appear on her screen. She finally hits talk. "Hey."

"Hey." Holly can't help herself, "where are you?"

"I had to help Steve with something…"

"You mean police stuff?"

Gail kind of chuckles, "yeah, police stuff, it was the case he and I were working before you and I had to go away."

"Oh. Okay."

"You okay? Did you take a nap today?" Gail hears a bit of unease in Holly's voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine." A pause on the phone. "I'm not used to talking to you like this."

Gail smiles, "it is a little weird, eh?"

"Yeah." Another pause. "When will you be home?"

Gail hears it in Holly's voice, the worry. The worry that Gail wont come home, not to Holly's. _Home,_ Gail thinks. She wants to smile at this thought, but can't. Not yet. She doesn't know how long it will be her 'home,' how long Holly will want her around, "soon. We're almost done here and I'll come see you."

Holly sighs, "okay." Holly wants to say more, she wants to ask Gail why she didn't pick up her phone the first times she rang, she wants to ask Gail why she seems so nervous around her again, but Holly just repeats herself, "okay. See you soon."

And the call is dropped. Gail sighs. She crosses her arms. They need to talk, but how does Gail bring it up, can she bring it up, of course she can, but should she, especially with the baby on the way, should she wait until after the baby? Gail grumbles. Her head hurts.

* * *

Gail does go back to Holly's after she's done with her brother and Dorothy. She brings her two duffle bags up to Holly's room and carries the boxed crib into Holly's office upstairs. After dinner with Joyce and Charlie, Holly calls it a night. There is no talk of where Gail was all day, just regular family chatter on what Holly missed while she was away. Gail asks Charlie if he wants to help build the crib. He readily accepts. They decide to build it in the office for now, not knowing which room Holly hopes to make into the nursery. Charlie asks Gail a few questions about her and her family and what her family thinks about Gail and Holly together and Holly having a baby.

Gail coughs, not expecting that question, "well…my brother and his girlfriend know about Holly, I haven't told my parents yet. Holly's actually met Steve, my brother."

Charlie nods his head, "yes, we've met Steve too; he came to our house in Montreal, he seems nice, but your parents?"

Gail dodging the question because she has been putting off telling her mother about her pregnant girlfriend, "ummm…well, we just got back, and I'm sure she'll want to touch base soon, I'm sure I'll get invited to some family dinner within the next week and I'll tell them then."

Charlie nods his head, "I understand, parents can be tough. Joyce was actually pregnant with Walter when we got married. It was the thing to do, marry the mother of your child…not to say I wouldn't if she wasn't pregnant…we were already engaged and…am I sharing too much?" He gives her a smile, similar to Holly's.

Gail can't help but smile back, "no, it's fine." Gail sighs, "I see your point though."

Charlie nods his head, he stands up to stretch and yawns, "well, I don't know about you Gail, but I think we've built enough for tonight, don't you? We should leave some for tomorrow, give us an excuse to not do dishes or something," he smiles slyly.

"I completely agree Charlie, thanks for the help."

"No, thank you. You don't have to be doing any of this, but you are." He places a hand on her arm, "thank you."

Gail smiles weakly and nods her head.

* * *

Gail slips into bed behind Holly, Holly sighs, "I can't wait to be able to hold you again," she leans over the bed to grab a pillow from the floor to put between her legs, as she lies back down she sighs again, able to relieve some of the pressure. "My dad wasn't too hard on you, was he?"

"No, he's a nice man," says Gail truthfully. "Better?" asks Gail.

Holly hums in response. "I can't wait to hold you again," she repeats, "and to be able to lift you up and feel your legs wrapped around me," Holly's mind begins to wander as she thinks about Gail's strong legs wrapped around her, Holly supporting both of them, their hands wandering, she shivers at her own thoughts and smiles.

"Good thought?"

Holly harrumphs in response, knowing that she wants sex but doesn't, she feels she is in a completely odd phase.

Gail leans in and kisses Holly's shoulder. "I like being the big spoon," she inches closer to Holly and places her hand on the baby's house, demonstrating why she likes it.

Holly smiles, "there definitely is an appeal of you being the big spoon…" Also Holly isn't really up for anything beyond this moment, beyond spooning and kissing, she can dream about it sure, but actually acting upon it; not right now, just thinking about it tires her out.

Gail smiles, "but it is nice being the little spoon sometimes."

Holly laughs. "You know what would actually be nice right about now?" Holly asks rhetorically. "A bag of cheese puffs, I've been craving them all day. Too bad we didn't pack our almost empty bags from Moonbeam."

"You're in luck," says Gail.

Holly turns around to face the blonde, "you better have good news," threatens Holly.

Gail can't help but smile at the doctor, "when I was packing earlier today, I noticed the boys never opened my bags of cheese puffs, clearly the boys have no good taste in junk food, so I packed them, hopefully they aren't stale."

Holly grabs Gail's face, "we have cheese puffs here?" Gail nods. "Like here, here?" Gail nods again. "Can I have them?" Gail nods a third time. "Where?"

Gail takes Holly's hands off of her face and gets out of bed holding back her laughter, never seen Holly like this. Gail walks over to the duffel bags she brought with her and unzips them; she retrieves one of the bags and brings it to the bed. "Are you going to eat in bed?" This time Holly nods her head. Gail opens the bag and passes it over to Holly's outstretched hands. This time Gail does laugh.

"SHHH! Don't let my parent hear you."

Gail can't help but laugh at the hilarity of Holly's comment. Holly moans as that cheesey goodness touches her tongue. She joins the brunette back in bed; she takes a handful of cheese puffs for herself and starts munching on them.

After her handful Holly wipes her hand on her white pajama top, "I'm totally getting you orange pjs, so that next time you wont even notice the cheese puff dust," comments Gail, "less laundry, cause you wont notice the difference in colours."

Holly smiles, "I don't care, damn these are good cheese puffs, I love you so much right now." She leans over to kiss Gail. "Thank you." The baby starts to move around in Holly's belly, she grabs Gail's hand to let her feel with her, "the baby loves you too, I think they like cheese puffs just as much as us."

Gail shakes her head, "actually the baby can't taste what you've ate until like 4 to 6 hours later."

Holly scoffs, "nerd." Gail smiles. "Shut up and kiss me."

* * *

Thanks for reading, happy new year


	27. Chapter 27

Qbonbon and anyone else that was wondering, how did Gail recognize Dorothy?: at some point I mentioned that Gail felt that she recognized Dorothy, that she felt she knew her from somewhere, sure its vague, but I was going with siblings look alike and have similar mannerisms and Dorothy looks like her brother, who Gail spent several months undercover with, I don't know, it's a stretch sure, and it really only makes sense after the fact I guess. Or do you mean how Dorothy (in general)? I gave Dorothy multiple background stories, she kept showing up at inopportune times and rooting through their stuff and asking probing questions, and Gail thought she was suspicious. Anyways, hope that helps.

* * *

Joyce and Charlie spent a couple more days with the newly returned women, but they had to get back to Montreal. Both still work and have to get back to their lives; however, they said they would come visit on March Break, since Joyce works at a grade school she gets the full week off and Charlie will take a couple of days off to come see his new grandchild.

Holly and Gail spend the rest of Gail's time off shopping for the nursery, Holly decides to keep the spare room a spare room and move her desk and bookcase out of the office into her room, since there was enough space. Gail helps put together a change table and carry various other items up to the office, well now the baby's room. They acquire a rocking chair and a little book shelf to start placing books and stuffed animals on it.

Gail does go back to work at the end of her week off. Holly decides to go to work as well; she heads to the labs to let her boss know what is going on. Holly's boss was overjoyed to see Holly again, giving her a hug, and laughing with joy at how pregnant Holly is. Holly agreed to finish her paperwork from her previous cases, to go over the ones that she had started and a coworker finished to make sure she would have come to the same conclusion, and help out on consult where needed until she was officially on maternity leave.

* * *

Gail's helping her brother with some case; she's quote 'easing' back into police work, thanks to Oliver, so naturally she got paired with her brother for the day. She's sitting in his office area with her feet on his desk. Her phone is next to her feet. It vibrates and the message she just received flashes on her screen. Steve quickly grabs it and reads aloud, '"I'm starving.'" He laughs, "how did you text yourself?" He laughs at his own joke.

Gail sits up and grabs her phone, "funny." She unlocks her phone, "it's from Holly. She went to work today." She looks at her watch, sees that's it's just after 11, "it's close enough to lunch time, I'm going for lunch." She stands up typing something into her phone; a smile appears on her face as it beeps back, "call me if you find anything." She raises her hand to wave goodbye.

"Say 'hi' to Holly for me," says Steve.

"Maybe," says Gail.

Gail takes the couple block walk to the labs, hitting up a sandwich place along the way. Spending all those weeks on that mail route, Gail actually doesn't mind the frigid cold walk through the city. She enters the labs, flashing her badge, saying she's there to see Dr. Stewart. Some lab tech points down a hallway, saying the offices are down there. Gail not familiar with this part of the building reads every name she passes on the doors until she finally finds 'Stewart.' Gail knocks softly, she hears a quiet, 'come in.' She opens the door and finds Holly in her desk chair with her arms over her head. "What are you doing?" asks Gail.

"I have this weird cramp and raising my arms helps."

Gail nods her head, she drops the bag of sandwiches on the desk and takes the two steps over to Holly's guest chair and sits down. "I brought lunch," she says.

Holly has her eyes closed, "thanks, but I'm not hungry anymore."

"Oh," says Gail, who feels weirdly deflated, she took her lunch early to spend it with Holly, and Holly's in some sort of pain that Gail can't help with. She sighs, not sure what to do, she feels like this keeps happening to her, she feels like she is in a constant state of not knowing what to do. She gets to a place then she's just not sure what to do, does she continue on with what she's been doing, find something else, she doesn't know. It's exhausting her though. "Well," Gail stands ready to make her trek back to the precinct.

"You're not going are you?" Holly looks at her with a soft worried expression, "you just got here…"

Gail, who was just about to leave, says, "no…I was going to the bathroom, to uh…wash my hands, be back in a minute."

"Okay," says Holly, as she watches the blonde leave her office.

Gail takes her time going to the washroom, poking her head in various other rooms that she's never been in before. When Gail returns she opens Holly's door and finds the doctor eating the sandwich she brought for her, "good?" asks Gail.

"Mhmmm," nods Holly.

"Good," comments Gail as she sits back down in the guest chair and reaches for her own sandwich.

* * *

A few weeks go by, Gail goes to the station and out on patrol, but always takes her lunch break with Holly. Sometimes her partner of the day will join her in Holly's office eating fruits, vegetables and other healthy stuff. Today it's Andy, as they're about to leave Andy asks, "you two coming to the Penny with us after work for some drinks?"

Gail shakes her head, "Holly will be too tired."

"Awww, come on Gail, since you've been home you haven't gone out with us once," Andy whines.

Andy whining doesn't work on Gail, but Holly hears it differently, Holly fears that Gail is turning down her friends cause she doesn't think Holly would be up for after work activities and should not be alone for too long, they had talked about it previously, how they were always together and Gail had been noticing how tired Holly gets now and how much other help Holly needs, it's a lot easier for Gail to direct a sleepy Holly to a couch or bed, and to help Holly with preparing food and what not, Holly seems to be fine with going to work, pretty much always staying in her office chair and her coworkers coming to her if they need anything, nothing too strenuous, but generally speaking Holly's pregnancy has been pretty good, no real problems, just typical tiredness or soreness. "You should go," Holly tells Gail. Holly likes the idea of Gail putting her first, but she also doesn't want the blonde to lose her connections to her friends.

"What?" questions the blonde officer.

"I'll be fine by myself for a little bit, if you're nervous about leaving me home alone I can call one of my friends to spend the evening with me, I don't need a babysitter…"

"Yet," says Andy, who's totally been watching this whole interaction, "and I totally want to be a babysitter again, add me to your list of willing participants." Andy looks between Holly and Gail; she directs her question to Holly, "so Gail can come out with us tonight?"

Holly laughs at the question like she holds the power of what Gail does or doesn't do, "yes, and she could have slash should have gone out with you guys previously. I don't know why she didn't."

"You know why I didn't, we put together the nursery and stuff," Gail trying to defend her choices.

"And I'm very grateful for your help," Holly walks over to give Gail a kiss on the cheek. "You can pick me up and drive me home, then you can go out with your friends."

"You sure?" asks a reluctant and worried Gail.

"Yes," Holly kisses her again, this time on the lips. Holly presses her body into Gail's.

Gail happy for this closeness to Holly, she slowly runs her hand from Holly's shoulder down to her hip, there is no denying how attractive Gail finds Holly, "okay," she lets their lips touch again, letting their lips stay in contact for just a little longer, "okay," Gail repeats about to let their lips come in contact once more, but Andy coughs. "I should go," Gail reluctantly leaves Holly's office, but with one more quick kiss.

* * *

Gail and the rookies are at the Penny. They're happy Gail's home, happy to be catching up with her. Gail wants to be in the moment with them, because after all she missed them too (not like she's going to tell anyone), but she also wants to be home with Holly, who truly hasn't been feeling well this week. She goes back in her head, 'home with Holly, who would have thought?' She grins to herself and checks her cell phone for the umpteenth time that night to see if Holly sent her anything, to make sure that Holly is okay.

"Gail," Dov says, "you're not even paying attention."

"What do you expect," asks Traci. Gail sticks her tongue out at her.

"Tell her about the case with twins," suggests Chris.

"Yes. That was a great case," hypes Dov. "It was a case with identical twins. Gail you would not believe it but," he holds for suspense, "these identical twins looked exactly alike."

"Generally speaking that is how identical twins work," Gail rolls her eyes.

Traci huffs out a laugh. Gail looks at her phone again. She realizes that it has been over two hours; she decides enough is enough and leaves.

* * *

Gail gets back to Holly's after the Penny. She's tired, long day at work on patrol with Andy then spending time with her friends, more like exhausted. She hangs up her coat, takes off her boots, hangs her keys in the kitchen, and heads upstairs. She finds Holly lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling. "Hey," says Gail.

"Hey."

Gail moves into the bathroom, taking off her makeup, washing her face, changing into her pjs. She enters the bedroom again to find Holly still in the same position. Gail pulls back the sheets and crawls into bed, "how are you feeling?"

"…good." A pause.

"Are you okay?" asks a concerned Gail.

"…just thinking."

"Oh," says Gail curled on her side facing Holly, "about what?"

"You."

Gail's heart drops, her mind quickly goes to her insecurities of not being good enough, this is what she's been fearing, Holly's ready to say goodbye to Gail, Holly wants her life back, she wants Gail out of it.

Holly speaks cutting through Gail's unfortunate thoughts, "I've been thinking about how great you are, and how grateful I am to have you in my life. It's so easy to talk to you and to share with you, and I love having you around. How we met as strangers in a weird circumstance, but you quickly became my best friend." She turns to look at the blonde, "you are my best friend Gail, and I love you."

"Oh." A pause, Gail's surprised, she wasn't expecting that. "I love you too," whispers Gail, she snakes her hand down Holly's arm to grab her hand.

Holly squeezes Gail's hand, "I know you do." Neither taking their eyes off the other, even though Holly just said those beautiful words to her, Gail can't help to think how much longer will she be able to look at Holly like this, to lie so close to her, to share this moment.

* * *

Once again Gail's walking to the labs for lunch with Holly; she enjoys these walks, outside in the fresh air. She seems to find these walk back and forth from the precinct is her quiet thinking time, sometimes thinking can get her into trouble but she can't help herself. She thinks back to what Holly said the night before, _I love you._ Even though she's heard Holly say it before, numerous times, Gail still gets a warmth that washes over her, she gets this giddy feeling that she's truly never really felt before. Sure she's had people tell her they love her before, whether it be from Chris or Nick, but it never felt like this. And it's not like it wasn't reciprocated, she loved them too… to a degree, and they loved her…to a degree, maybe that's it, maybe that's why she feels different, she loves Holly, not to a degree, she loves her. Period. Gail comes to her early conclusion, she likes these walks.

And yet, she tells herself don't get too comfortable, who knows how long Holly will want her around. Especially with the baby coming, what will happen then? Gail sighs. Too much over thinking is not good for anyone. Thinking is over rated.

* * *

Holly is starting to feel sluggish about going to work, but she wants to work for as long as she possibly can, wanting to work until the baby is born. She knows she gets a year off, but she wants her year off to start when the baby is actually born, so that she gets a full year off.

* * *

Gail is in parade, she had to rush to make it on time to work today, she had to get herself ready, help Holly get ready, drop Holly at the labs, then book it to the station. She quickly changed, grabbed a mug of coffee from the coffee machine, and sat down just as Oliver entered the room, as he passed her to the front he patted her on the shoulder. He was talking about open cases, things she already knew from Steve, so she was half listening. "Volunteers," he repeats, "the kids are off on Monday and a lot of you have requested for that time off too, so I'm looking at those in blue who don't have kids…" Oli scans the room. Gail raises her hand, knowing that this schedule of going to work is working for both women, keeping them busy rather than sitting and waiting in Holly's townhouse helps the time go by faster. "Thanks Peck." She raises her mug of coffee to cheers Oliver. He smiles at her, "don't think that I don't notice you using my 'DAD' mug," Gail takes a sip of her coffee not breaking eye contact with him. He smiles at her, "fine, keep the mug, it's yours. Glad your back Peck, I haven't been properly menaced in a while, neither has the station." The other officers' laughter in the parade room is slightly nervous.

* * *

Gail's at work and she gets a text from Holly who also had to work on the Monday, "come here."

Gail texts back, "I'm on patrol, can it wait until noon?"

Holly never having felt pain like this before holds her breath to silence the scream that was sure to come. The pain passes. She looks at her watch, it's 11:13. She thinks to herself, just over three quarters of an hour, she can do this. She types back, "ok."

* * *

A beautiful February day, clear blue skies, still a sharp crispness in the air, Gail takes a step out of the station and takes a breath of air. As has been her routine, she walks from the precinct to the lab, stopping along the way for sandwiches, healthy sandwiches, sandwiches full of vitamin rich vegetables, and whatever else the doctor had said was good for Holly. She waves to the person at the reception desk, still doesn't know their name, never been introduced, and truthfully doesn't really care. She walks along the hallway and hears a faint scream. Gail picks up her pace and busts into Holly's office, where she sees Holly panting and red, all hunched over in her chair. Gail drops the sandwich bag and rushes over to Holly; she kneels down next to her, "babe, what's wrong?"

Holly grabs Gail's hand, the one that is not rubbing circles on her back, and squeezes hard, "my water broke, I think I'm having contractions."

"Oh my God, Holly! The baby is coming!"

"I know Gail," Holly drawls through clenched teeth.

"I don't have my car here; can you wait while I run back to the precinct to get it?"

Another contraction, Holly getting more and more vocal, also not releasing Gail's hand. "I'll take that as a 'no'," says Gail. She stops rubbing Holly's back and fishes her phone out to call Steve, luckily he answers, "Steve!" says Gail without letting him say anything, "my car keys are in my locker, get them and bring my car to the lab fast!" She hangs up, not wanting her brother to make her talk more. Gail shoves her phone away. She has Holly straighten up in her chair, she places one hand on Holly's face, "look at me," Holly does, "hey beautiful, you're going to have a baby today," Gail can't help but smile, Holly continues to pant, but nods her head, "in a minute you are going to stand up and we are going to walk to the exit, and Steve is going to drive us to the hospital, okay?" Gail asks rhetorically, but Holly nods her head. "Okay," says Gail, "on the count of three you are going to stand up. One. Two. Three." Up Holly stands. "Great, you're doing great. Now let's take our time walking to the door, no need to rush. Let's be careful."

Gail and Holly step out into the February cold just as Steve parks the car, he sees the distress Holly is in and jumps out to aid his little sister getting her pregnant girlfriend into the car. After all three are settled in the car Steve once again jumps into the driver's seat and races to the hospital.

* * *

They get to the hospital; Holly gets escorted to a room, and moved into a hospital bed. Gail notices that Steve stayed in the hallway. Gail thinks that maybe that's where she should be too. Gail makes an excuse, "I'm just going to make a quick phone call-"

Holly from the bed, "where do you think you're going Blondie?" she spits out in a bout of anger.

"Nowhere," Gail shakes her head, quite stunned at Holly's tone of voice.

"Good," growls Holly. "Please come hold my hand again," sweet Holly is back.

Gail's too afraid to laugh, but finding those two sides of Holly hilarious.

* * *

After several hours of labour, Holly is finally resting against the pillows at the top of the bed holding her new baby boy; Gail is sitting facing the two mid-way down the bed. Holly passes the baby to Gail. Gail smiles. The baby opens his eyes. Gail takes a sharp breath of air, as two startlingly blue eyes stare back at her. She gives a breathy laugh as she says, "you sure I'm not the dad?" She still hasn't taken her eyes off of the beautiful baby boy in her arms, all wrapped up in a blue blanket, she can't stop smiling.

A nurse comes into the room to take the baby for medical reasons, "mind if I take him for a sec? To get some weight numbers and such." Holly nods her head and has Gail pass the baby to the nurse. Before the nurse leaves the room she turns around and says, "Happy Family Day."

* * *

Thanks for reading.

Thanks to anyone who has ever left a comment or favourited or followed or whatever, thanks


	28. Chapter 28

Gail and Holly are sitting shoulder to shoulder in Holly's hospital bed. Holly is holding the baby who is breast feeding for the first time. Gail lifts her arm up to place over Holly's shoulders, Holly cuddles into Gail. Gail smiles at the two, "I was going to make a joke about those being my breasts first but then I decided I can't compete with a baby."

"Can't?" questions Holly, raising her eyebrows, "no. You wont compete with a baby."

Gail mumbles an agreement and says, "it was a tasteful joke."

"Let's hear it," insists Holly.

"I don't want to."

"Good," says Holly. After a moment she says, "I'm going to name him Gilbert."

Gail can't help but gasp, she looks at Holly. Holly sees a glimmer of hope in Gail's eyes, she still sees the uncertainty that's been lingering in Gail's eyes for the past few weeks, but now she sees hope as well. Gail says, "that's a nice name." Knowing what the name means to the two of them.

* * *

Holly is holding her new baby boy Gilbert, Gail is resting against Holly in the Hospital bed. They're waiting for the doctor to come back and tell them they can go home. "You're still going to stay with me right, even though we're going to get a new roommate." Holly smiles at her own joke.

"Is he going to help with rent?" Gail leans her head against Holly's. "Yes I'll stay with you, you're going to need the help, and I told you that I would stay as long as you wanted me to."

"Good," smiles Holly, having her dreams come true, her dreams right here in her arms.

* * *

True to his word, Oliver allows Gail to have a week off, he suggests that maybe Gail should think about parental leave, but Gail doesn't want to be presumptuous and take all that time off, she knows she doesn't have to take the full time off, but anything more than a week and she'd feel weird. She told Holly she would stick around for a little while longer and help out with the baby, but beyond that she's not sure what she'll do.

That first week goes by in a blur. Gilbert and Holly slept most of the time. Gail mostly kept things clean and quiet. Shooing away visitors at the door wanting to come see Holly and the baby, Gail knows that Holly was not ready for any company yet. Gail kept the kitchen stocked and spent a lot of time playing on the GameCube while the other two slept. Whenever Holly was up it was to feed the baby, feed herself, snuggle with Gail on the couch watching some random television show and go back to bed.

* * *

After a couple weeks of this, Gail feels like she is on borrowed time at Holly's, not a matter of if but when Holly wants her out of the house. Lucky for Gail her schedule has been afternoon shifts, so whenever she gets back to Holly's early in the morning both Holly and Gilbert are sleeping. Sometimes she hears Gilbert stirring, so she goes into the nursery and picks him up, checks his diaper, and rocks him back to sleep, allowing Holly to keep sleeping. She can't help but smile at little Gil, she leans down to kiss his dark brown hair. Then she would go to sleep, while the other two would be up. She has the next couple of days off; she has day shifts next week. She's happy she's still here to be helping out Holly, but she's also afraid of what Holly will say when she sees her still here.

* * *

Holly was so elated for Gail to have a few days off; Holly was feeling overwhelmed and needed some support. Having Gail there to help out with Gilbert, change diapers, give him bottles, bathe him in the sink, Holly doesn't know what she would do without Gail. Now Gail is back to work, luckily it's day shifts so Holly will have her here at night. Holly feels Gail get out of bed. She is expecting her to lean over and give her a kiss, on the head, forehead, cheek, shoulder, somewhere, but nothing. Nothing. _Where's her kiss_ , when they were in Moonbeam, Gail always gave her a kiss before she left for her mail route. What is this, what is happening to Gail? Holly needs to start asking questions.

* * *

Holly is in the baby's room, making sure he's asleep. She hears Gail come in the house. Holly's still not used to Gail not being around. In Moonbeam, Gail was back at the safe house before she was and stayed home all night. In Toronto, Gail works weird hours, is barely ever around, and when she is she is extremely quiet and slightly aloof. Holly's just assumed Gail's tired. After working all the shifts she works plus coming home to a new born, Gail has barely slept. Holly waits another minute in Gilbert's room, to see if the blonde is going to come in to check on the baby. When Holly feels Gail isn't coming, she walks down the stairs in search of Gail. She sees her seated in the kitchen, head in her hand, rested against the table. _Yup, she's tired_ , Holly thinks. She leans against the door jamb leading into the kitchen, _she is now the second person I have watched sleep tonight_ , she thinks, _I should totally stop doing this…_

"Hey," says Holly from the doorway.

Gail mumbles something in reply.

"Why not just go to bed…you're tired."

Gail nods her head in her hand. Gail is at a loss, she doesn't know what she is doing, she's scared of what is to come, or what may come. She doesn't want to bring up her and Holly's situation, she doesn't want to lose whatever she has with Holly and now with Gilbert, she fears her not saying anything is just dragging things along, and neither wants to be the one that ends it.

Holly moves off of her spot, seeing that the blonde isn't going to move anytime soon. She walks over to Gail and rubs her hands over Gail's shoulders; she sits in Gail's lap draping her arms over Gail's shoulders. Holly tilts her head to the side, Gail opens her eyes. "Hey," says Holly. She kisses Gail on the nose. "Tough day?"

Gail grumbles. Holly smiles sympathetically and rests their foreheads together. Gail sighs contentedly, _damn I'm going to miss this_ , she thinks. She pats Holly's legs to indicate her to get off, "I'm tired Holly, I want to go to sleep."

Holly kisses her cheek before she gets up, "okay."

"Okay," says Gail as she stands up and stretches.

"Do you work tomorrow?"

"Just the morning, I should be able to get here by 2, 3 at the latest. Do you need something?"

Holly inwardly yells, _YOU! I need you back, I don't know where your head has been at, but it's not here._ "No," she says.

"Okay," Gail nods her head and leaves the kitchen.

Holly takes Gail's spot in that chair, she sits down and adopts the same position with her head in her hand and sighs.

* * *

Lisa comes over to visit Holly, now willing to let others in the house. Gilbert is sleeping in his crib; Lisa and Holly are looking at him. Lisa's had enough as she walks out of the room, Holly adjusts the way Gilbert is lying in his crib before she follows Lisa out.

"He's cute," says Lisa, sitting at the bar stools in the kitchen. "But, I mean, I should hope so, look at you."

Holly not sure if that's a compliment or not, she says, "thanks."

"So, are you going to raise him vegan?"

"Why? I'm not a vegan."

"It's the new thing Holls, I'm even vegan."

Holly laughs, "you mean your latest fling is vegan, so naturally you are too."

"I've been vegan for almost three weeks now," Lisa brags.

"Well, I'm breast feeding him, so, he can't be vegan."

"He can still be considered vegan, common mistake," Lisa looks down at Holly's boobs, "your boobs do look rather nice, don't forget you need to even out how often you feed from which breast or else you will get lopsided boobs." Lisa reaches across to cup Holly's boobs.

Holly pats Lisa's hands away, "and we wouldn't want that."

"Exactly," says Lisa, "just trying to help you out."

"…thanks…"

"So did you circumcise him?"

"Pardon me?" Holly asks slightly shocked at her friend's personal question.

"You know," Lisa mimes scissors with her fingers and says, "snip, snip."

Holly not sure what to say.

"Oh come on Hol, we're both doctors. They say it's a lot more hygienic, plus it's easier to put on a condom if you're circumcised."

"Why do you know this?"

"I read things…"

Holly sighs. "For your information, yes."

"Good," Lisa nods her head. "So how's the live in girlfriend, what does she think of all of this?" Lisa looks at Holly who shrugs her shoulders. "Have you two had sex after the baby was born yet?"

"Oh my God Lisa!" exclaims Holly, but wants to kind of justify why, "we've both been really busy and really tired."

"So no. He's what? Over a month old now," Holly nods her head at Lisa's question, "it's safe to have sex again." Lisa starts to do the math, "assuming you're like most pregnant women, you probably didn't want to have sex the last couple months of your pregnancy, so the two of you haven't had sex in almost five months." Lisa looks skyward, "I would die. Have you at least tried?" Holly doesn't say anything; she didn't really think it was that big of a deal, "you didn't try kissing her nose did you?" Lisa scrunches up her face, "you used to do that back in med school and sometimes it was like watching a train wreck, completely cringe worthy, I don't know how you kept a girlfriend." Holly still doesn't respond. "Cause I mean, Hol, it's cute to kiss someone's nose but…"

Holly makes a frustrated noise.

"I think I got my answer, you seem really…tense."

Holly doesn't respond, she thinks about her failed attempt at trying to start something with Gail the other night, she sighs. "What if it's not just about the sex?"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know-something feels off between us."

"Do you love her?"

"Yes, I love her so much, it scares me, I don't want to lose her," confesses Holly.

"Well you need to tell her how much you love her and how much you want her in your life."

Holly pauses for a second and looks down at her left hand ring finger, she finds looking at that finger reminds her of Gail, she thinks, _how do you do that?_

Lisa clearly done with this conversation asks, "so what else is new?"

"You mean besides becoming a mom?" asks Holly sarcastically.

"Yes, I haven't seen you in ages," Lisa stresses, "what else have you been up to?"

Holly sighs, _and this is why I prefer hanging out with her and Rachel._ Holly has an idea, she hates to admit it but Lisa is right, and she needs to do something so she doesn't lose Gail, so Holly asks Lisa to watch Gilbert while she runs a few errands.

"What?" asks Lisa, "I don't know what to do with a baby!"

"I just put him down; he should be asleep for at least another two hours. I'll be home before he wakes up. I just need someone to be in the house. Please." She asks Lisa.

"Okay, fine, but you'll owe me if he does wake up."

"Okay," Holly shrugs her shoulders knowing Gilbert won't be up for a while. "Let me just grab my purse, I'll only be gone for an hour, hour and a half tops."

"Fine," says Lisa as she opens Holly's fridge and grabs a white wine bottle, "this is my sitting fee."

Holly smiles at her school friend, "it's a steep fee, but help yourself. If you need anything just call me."

Lisa grabs a glass from the cupboard, "will do."

"Thanks Lise," Holly grabs her car keys and heads out the door, determined to go to the jewelers and buy two weeding rings, damn she misses her ring, she knows it may sound silly but she does miss that tangible reminder of her and Gail.

* * *

Holly keeps fretting about filling out the papers she brought home from the hospital with her, the forms for Gilbert's birth card, health card, SIN card. She has everything filled out except one spot, the spot for a second parent's information. She wants to ask Gail if she can put her down, but is nervous. She loves Gail and wants Gail to be a part of her and Gilbert's family, not that she already isn't but officially, so that the hospital knows, the government knows, the world knows. OK, maybe the world won't know, but she wants it written down somewhere. She's been moving these papers around, from the kitchen to the family room and now to the desk in her bedroom, but still hasn't found the right moment. She got close, Gail was feeding the baby a bottle in the kitchen and she was looking over the papers, she noticed they were filled out and offered to mail them in for Holly, but then Gilbert spat up all over her. Holly would have asked her then, when the papers were brought up, but allowed Gail and Gilbert to leave the room to get cleaned up.

* * *

Earlier that evening Holly was putting Gilbert to bed, giving him his night time feeding and making sure his diaper was dry. She walks down the stairs and sees Gail sitting on the couch, staring at the tv. Holly has noticed that Gail has become more distant lately, ever since they got home from Moonbeam, and even more so when Gilbert was born. Holly walks over to Gail and sits in her lap. Gail doesn't move her arms around Holly like she normally would. They sit like that for a few, Gail eventually moves her hand to tap Holly's leg, indicating her to get off, "I want to grab something from the fridge."

Holly stands up. Gail walks into the kitchen, she places her hands on the counter and leans on them, she sighs, lost in her own thoughts. She doesn't notice that Holly followed her into the kitchen. Holly stands silently, looking at the blonde, wondering what's going on in that head. She wonders if it's because they haven't been spending that much time together, Gilbert has been taking a lot of her time, but Gail too has been spending more time with the baby then with Holly. She then wonders if it's sex, they haven't been that intimate with each other since the baby was born, they've either been too tired or really didn't want to. Holly can't help herself, she hates seeing Gail like this. She walks up behind her and hugs her; Gail startles a little, but settles in to Holly's embrace, clearly lost in thought. Holly rests the side of her head on Gail's back. Gail tries to loosen Holly's hold, but the brunette continues to hold her tightly. Gail, who's stronger than she looks, is able to turn around and properly give Holly a hug. Holly sighs; this is what she's been missing, but what about Gail?

Holly adjusts so her head is resting on Gail's shoulder, "are you okay?"

Gail pauses before asking Holly the same question, "are you okay?"

Wanting to see how the blonde responds, Holly lifts her head to look into Gail's beautiful blue eyes, "are you okay?"

Hoping that it's enough of an answer, Gail pecks Holly on the lips; she sees all the love and worry in her eyes and doesn't like it. Holly smiles softly; she places her hand on Gail's cheek and rubs her thumb soothingly up and down, she kisses Gail on the lips, sweetly, softly. Gail missed the feeling of Holly's lips. She stares into Holly's eyes and she can't help herself, she brings their lips back together and desperately deepens the kiss, wanting more, needing more. Holly's hands begin to wander, slipping them under Gail's top touching bare skin. Gail moves her hands down to Holly's ass, she pulls Holly closer to her, melding their bodies together. When it all becomes too much, Holly finally pulls back, "let's go upstairs."

* * *

And now Holly's staring at Gail who appears to be lost in thought all over again. "What are you thinking about?"

Holly trails her fingers between Gail's breasts, over her abdomen to her belly button and back. Gail's lying on her back with Holly curled beside her. Gail lets out her breath. "You're really good at that," confesses Gail.

Holly smirks, "I have had some pract-"

"Don't finish that," Gail cuts her off.

Holly slightly taken aback, "why?" She pauses for a second to rearrange her thoughts, to make sure her thoughts are in order and doesn't say anything that will push Gail further away. "We both know we've been with other people."

"Yeah, I guess," says Gail.

"So then what's wrong?"

Gail's not sure what to say; they've been back in Toronto for a couple of months now, and Holly had Gilbert. Holly had mentioned when they were in Moonbeam that she didn't want to date anyone while she was pregnant, even though Holly and Gail totally started dating, they were dating right, it wasn't just an act for their cover, and now Holly's not pregnant, does this mean Holly will start dating again? Gail doesn't know why she feels unsecure all of a sudden, she has never felt this stable in a relationship before, and yet for whatever reason she feels obligated to say something. "It's just-"

"It's what?" prompts Holly, completely confused with Gail, not sure where this conversation is going, just wanting the blonde to feel better again, to have her Gail back.

"Now that we're home, are you going to start dating people again?" All of Gail's insecurities come out. "You said you didn't want to date anyone while you were pregnant, and then you kind of couldn't date anyone while we were in Moonbeam because it could have thrown our cover."

"I am dating someone."

"Oh," says Gail completely defeated. "You probably had your eye on someone before you were plucked from your life and had to go to Moonbeam. I understand."

Holly changes her position from lying next to Gail to sitting on top of her. "I'm dating you silly." Holly finally understand why Gail has been so distant, "I don't want to date anyone else. It wouldn't even matter if I had my eye on someone, they're not you, and I want you. I don't know why you have this self doubt about yourself and your relationships. Whoever made you doubt how amazing you are is a real idiot," Holly says somewhat angrily. She pauses for a second, not wanting to get off topic. She has a brain wave, and quickly gets off the bed and grabs some papers from the desk. "These are Gilbert's hospital papers, there's a spot to put someone else's name as his parent, I was wondering if I could put yours'."

Gail sits up. "Seriously?" Gail asks completely in awe and dumbstruck, she moves to the edge of the bed where she continues to sit, staring at Holly.

"Yes." Holly says with the biggest smile on her face. "I'd love for you to be the other name on these forms, to join me in raising Gil." Suddenly all nervous, "do you…uh…want to?" She pauses, "you made a joke about being his dad, and I do want you as a part of the family, do you want to be?" Holly nervously asks again, she sets the sheets down on the bed and sits in Gail's lap, draping her arms over Gail's shoulders. "I mean there's another spot for a second parent's information and I thought if you were okay with it I'd put your name down, but if you don't want to be a part of this…"

Holly gets cut off the only real way Gail knows how to, with a kiss. "Relax nerd." She presses their foreheads together. "I would love to officially be a part of this family. I love you and I already love the baby, and I would be honoured to join you in raising him," she says somewhat dramatically. Gail pauses, filled with joy and hope, "I was always envious of friends or coworkers knowing exactly what they wanted. I always did what was expected of me, what I was supposed to do." Gail finds Holly's hands to clasp, "I know why I didn't know before, I hadn't met you yet, and now I know I want you and this beautiful boy in my life. I know what I want. I want you two to be my purpose, my reason, my…" Holly shuts her up the only honest way that seems to work.

Holly eventually pulls back and places their foreheads back together, "I was also thinking…that maybe you'd want to have the same last name as us, if you maybe wanted to be a Stewart too?"

Gail's all smiles, "are you asking me to change my name or marry you?"

"I went out to the store the other day to buy us wedding rings, they're in my top dresser drawer, I keep looking over at my left hand, to look at my ring, to see something that always reminds me of you, but it's not there-" Gail kisses her, Holly giggles and answers Gail's question, "I was thinking both…"

Gail falls backwards bringing Holly with her, "you make me so happy Holls, I would love that. I love you."

* * *

Gail is elated; all her weeks of unrest are gone. Holly asked her to officially be a part of her family, and of course Gail said yes. She woke up this morning feeling great, she heard Gilbert making noises and gladly got out of bed letting her fiancée sleep, _fiancée_ Gal smiles to herself. She threw on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. She went into Gilbert's room, picked him up, changed his diaper, and took him downstairs to warm up a bottle. After Gail finished feeding Gilbert a bottle she burped him, she has him in her arms rocking him back and forth, staring at his beautiful face. She hears a knock at the door; curious as to who would be here so early in the morning she walks to the front of the house and looks through the peephole. She sees her mother, she opens the door. Elaine stands there all dressed up for her day of work, her police uniform perfectly pressed and crisp, as always.

If Elaine is surprised by the scene that the door has revealed, Gail holding a little baby with a spit-up cloth resting on her shoulder, she doesn't show it. Elaine looks her daughter up and down and says, "okay dear, you've had your fun; it's time to stop playing house."

* * *

thanks for reading


	29. Chapter 29

If Elaine is surprised by the scene that the door has revealed, Gail holding a little baby with a spit-up cloth resting on her shoulder, she doesn't show it. Elaine looks her daughter up and down and says, "okay dear, you've had your fun, it's time to stop playing house."

Gail opens her mouth then closes it, she hears Holly padding down the stairs, "Gail, honey, who's at the door?" No answer. "Please invite them in; the baby's not dressed to be outside."

Gail steps aside to usher her mother into the house, Elaine enters. Holly dressed in a house coat comes to stand next to Gail, Gail gestures to her mom, "Holly this is my mother, mom this is Holly."

Holly knows who Elaine is, she has met her a handful of times at the lab, she has yet to have a pleasant experience with her, maybe this time will be different… "Please take a seat," offers Holly, ushering Elaine into the family room area.

Gail follows them, still cradling little Gilbert, she takes a seat on the couch while her mom sits in the comfy chair. Holly walks into the kitchen and calls out, "I'm making coffee, want some?"

Gail yells back, "yes please."

Elaine decides now's her chance to talk to Gail, to help her see her future, "what are you doing here Gail?"

"What do you mean?" Gail tickles under Gil's chin, which gets a small smile, "you're a happy baby, aren't you?"

"Come on Gail, look at me, you don't know what you are doing, what you're getting yourself into. This is not what you want."

"Mom," Gail starts to say.

Holly enters the room with a coffee for Gail. She sniffs and scrunches up her face, "Gail pass me the baby, something stinks."

"Oh," says Gail, "I thought it was the bull shit my mom was saying."

Holly laughs as she picks up Gilbert, "your mom is funny," she says to the baby. She goes upstairs to change his diaper.

"Mom, I love Holly, and I love the life we are creating. Sure we met in bizarre circumstances but we made it work, and we continue to make it work. And I love that little baby; he puts a smile on my face." Gail pauses, she doesn't understand why she has to explain herself, what's it matter what she does with her life, it's her life, she should be able to make the decisions. Elaine remains quiet, still staring at her daughter. Gail takes this as a good sign and continues, "Holly put my name on Gilbert's hospital papers."

"What?" asks Elaine. "His hospital papers? You do realize what this means Gail."

"Of course I do." Gail pauses again, "do _you_ realize what this means?" She waits a second, letting the information sink in, letting her mom figure it out, but Gail spells it out anyways, "I'm his mom, or going to be, I don't know how that officially works, but if I'm his mom, that makes you his-"

"Grandmother," Elaine says, she slumps backwards into her chair. "His grandmother," she repeats. "Wow."

Gail has never seen her mother like this, completely caught off guard, not expecting any of what has happened. Elaine came over today to convince Gail to not to do what she's doing but instead-

"My first grandchild," says Elaine, still shocked.

Holly walks back down the stairs with a fresh smelling Gilbert in her arms, "I forgot my coffee in the other room," she says. She passes the baby back to Gail, "I'm going to make toast, want some?"

"Yes, thanks," says Gail. Holly leans down to give both Gail and Gil a kiss.

Elaine observes this whole situation. Holly walks back into the kitchen. "I'm so sorry Gail."

Gail shrugs her shoulders, happy to be holding Gilbert again, giving her a distraction. Not having to look at her mom, giving her confidence with the baby in her arms, knowing that this is what she wants, not whatever life her mother had planned for her. Gail wants the life that she has chosen and will continue to choose.

"Can I, I mean, is it okay if I could hold him?" Elaine asks timidly.

Gail smiles, she stands up and walks over to her mom, she sits on the coffee table and gently passes Gilbert over, "careful," says Gail, "he's only a month old." Gail warns her mother even though she would obviously know how to hold a baby.

Elaine completely ignores her daughter's little jab, she smiles as she holds the baby, "mhmm," she says, "he still has that new baby smell."

Gail talking to the baby, "Gilbert this is my mom, mom this is Gilbert, my son." Gail can't help but smile, smile at all of this, this life that she never knew she wanted but now she has. Holly walks back into the family room with the toast all peanut buttered up; she sits on the couch and starts munching.

"Hello Gilbert," says Elaine, "I'm Elaine, but you can call me Grandma," she looks at Holly for permission, "can he call me Grandma?"

Holly looks at Gail who is still smiling. Holly nods her head 'yes.' She says, "my brother has a kid and he calls my mom Nana, mom goes by Nana if that's what you're worried about, so you can be Grandma if you want." Gail smiles over at Holly, whether it was Holly's explanation or just the situation, Holly doesn't know, but smiles back at Gail.

"I want," says Elaine who looks back down at Gilbert.

Gail stands up to sit next to Holly; she grabs a piece of toast and her coffee, "this is weird."

"No it's not," says Holly. She leans her head against Gail's shoulder. "I love you," she whispers.

"I love you."

* * *

Elaine continues to hold Gilbert, who's just happy lying in her arms. The three ladies have been talking about Gail and Holly's time in Moonbeam and what's been happening in Toronto while they've been away. Gilbert's losing the fight to sleep, Elaine watches as his little eyes finally close and he goes all limp in her arms. She smiles and looks at the two women on the couch who are practically asleep too. She says, "he's asleep."

Holly stands up to pick him up and take him to his crib.

Before Holly leaves Elaine asks, "can I come visit again?"

"Of course," says Holly. She has her baby in her arms, "actually, my parents are coming down next week, if you want to come meet them, just call Gail later in the week for some details, I'm going upstairs, I'm putting him down for a nap, and then I'm taking a nap."

"It was nice to meet you Holly," says Elaine, who can't see Holly roll her eyes, even though they have met each other before.

Gail stands up to, Elaine walks to the coat rack where she left her coat, "I should get going, let you sleep. That's what I did when you and Steve were born, when you slept I slept."

"Thanks mom." Gail feels weird, she shouldn't feel weird, it is her mom, but it's weird, "thanks for stopping by."

Elaine slightly nervous but has to ask, "Is it okay if I bring your father next time?"

Gail nods her head.

"Okay," says Elaine as she opens the door, "I'll see you at work or next week, whatever comes first."

Gail shuts and locks the door, she turns around and rests against, "that was weird, I don't care what Holly says, I've never seen mom like that." She reminds herself to call Steve later.

* * *

Gail goes into her and Holly's room; she turns on a bedside lamp, walks to the window to shut the blackout curtains. She moves around to her side of the bed and pulls back the covers, as soon as she lies down she sighs, happy and content to be under those layers of sheets. Best part about the winter months is the cold outside and the warm inside, she smiles to herself as she gets completely warm under the covers. Maybe too many layers with her sweatpants on, she shimmies them off and throws them onto the floor just as Holly emerges from the washroom. Holly smirks, "think you're going to get lucky?"

"What do you mean 'going to get'? I am lucky, I have you and Gilbert," Gail wiggles down into the covers, finding the perfect spot for her early afternoon nap.

"Aww, that's sweet," smiles Holly.

"Shhhh Holly," Gail says with her eyes closed, "you can't take anything I've said seriously because I'm essentially asleep."

Holly laughs and joins Gail, ready for a nap.

* * *

To the guest that wanted Gail to slam the door in Elaine's face, that would have been fun but you're too late, several others asked for Elaine to be nice about it, to be cool with the situation, so that's what happened. I do read your comments/ideas and I do use them to shape this story, sometimes it takes me a while to incorporate them, but I do eventually try to use them, like adding twins, maybe.

Thanks for reading


	30. Chapter 30

The Stewarts and the Pecks met and it went great. Both ladies are happy that their families got along. Gail has still yet to meet Holly's siblings, but that can happen at a later date.

As Elaine and Bill were leaving, Elaine mentioned to Gail how she will start stopping by on a somewhat regular basis, probably once a week, Gail's not so sure if she likes that idea.

A month or two has gone by and Gail and Holly got married. Holly gets to wear her wedding ring again; both are very happy and can't get over how lucky they were to have found each other at the perfect time.

* * *

Gail and Holly have the house all to themselves again. No relative asking them questions or trying to tell them what to do with their child, just Gail, Holly, and Gilbert.

Holly is in the family room doing some stretches before she goes into her yoga poses. She hears Gail pad down the stairs with a burbling Gilbert. Holly continues to exercise as Gail goes into the kitchen to warm up a bottle for the baby. Gail brings the baby and the bottle into the family room, plopping them down on the couch ready to feed the baby. After putting the bottle in the baby's mouth Gail turns her attention to the doctor. Holly must feel the eyes on her; she turns to look at the pair, and smirks when she meets Gail's eyes, who has been unabashedly staring at her wife's body. "You wont go to the batting cages with me, but you'll watch me do yoga. For a woman who eats so much, it's weird how little you work out." Gail opens her mouth to speak but Holly keeps talking, "I know I know, you have a fast metabolism and you go for runs every so often," Gail nods her head and smiles. Holly offers, "you could join me?"

Gail shakes her head, "I'd rather go to the batting cages, plus I can't," she gestures towards the baby in her lap, "who would feed Gil," Holly all smiles shakes her head at her, "also I just got him out of his crib, how cruel would that be to put him back in it? Come on Holly, we both know it's better if I just sit here and watch you."

Holly laughs, "you're right Gail, I shouldn't have offered, how foolish of me."

"It's okay nerd," Gail settles into the couch, "I think you should do that one position again, the one right before this one, it really accentuates your form."

Holly laughs again. "What are you teaching our son?"

Gail looks down at Gilbert who's still looking up at her, not paying a lick of attention to Holly, "how to properly appreciate a woman's body."

Holly gives Gail a lopsided smile, "how about when Gilbert goes down for his nap, you show _me_ how to properly appreciate a woman's body."

Gail grins back, "oh, I can do that." She gets off the couch taking Gilbert with her who has finished his bottle; she kisses Holly on the head, and continues on to the kitchen to grab a wet cloth for a little spit up clean up.

* * *

Holly calls up Lisa, "what are you doing tonight?"

"Nothing, why?"

"Want to come over?"

"Just us?"

"No, not really, would you mind watching Gilbert tonight? I want to take Gail to the batting cages."

Lisa sighs.

"You said you have nothing on the go…"

Lisa sighs again.

"I'll have a bottle of your favourite wine chilling in my fridge."

"Fine," says Lisa. "What time?"

"After 7, I'll put him down so he'll be asleep. You don't really have to do anything. Like last time."

"Okay, but can I call Rachel?"

"I already tried her," confesses Holly.

"Oh," says Lisa, realizing she wasn't her friend's first choice of sitters. "Never mind then, I'll see you tonight."

* * *

Lisa goes to the Stewart house and Gail and Holly leave. They go to the batting cages, something Holly has been wanting to do for a while now. She gets into a rhythm in the cage, Gail standing at the fence in awe at how impressive Holly is. The force she swings the bat and how she does it all so effortlessly. When their time expires Holly looks at her phone, "it's only 8:37, no texts from Lisa; want to go for some French fries?"

"What a ridiculous question Holly, obviously," Gail takes Holly's hand and leads them to the snack bar, "milk shakes too?"

"Obviously," smiles Holly.

* * *

They enter the townhouse and expect to hear the tv on, but there are no sounds coming from the family room. They listen more closely and hear Lisa talking quietly upstairs. Holly looks at Gail confused. Gail goes to the kitchen for a glass of water while Holly follows the sounds upstairs. She finds Lisa rocking Gilbert, "hey," says Holly quietly form the doorway.

Lisa turns to face her friend, "looks who's up."

"How long has he been up?" asks a concerned Holly, hoping he wasn't too much trouble for her friend.

"Not that long, he started squawking, I thought he might soothe himself, but he started to cry instead, he had a wet diaper."

"Did you change it?"

"Of course I changed it," says Lisa annoyed at her friend's question, "I'm not completely irresponsible."

"Oh, sorry," Holly walks more into the room, "I can take over."

"It's okay," says Lisa, "I got it."

"You sure?"

Lisa looks down at the little baby in her arms, a little baby that is struggling to stay awake, "he's almost asleep."

"Okay," says Holly as she backs out of the room. _Who knew Lisa was good with babies…_ thinks Holly, _I need to remember this for future reference._ All that concern Holly had was for nothing, turns out Lisa's a pro.

* * *

Holly decides she should thank Lisa for the other night; she takes advantage of Gail being scheduled for the afternoon shift and offers to meet Lisa at a café by the hospital for lunch, her treat. They had a nice time, but Holly needs to be home for a certain time in order for Gail to leave on time so she is not late for her shift.

Holly enters the house to see Gail trying to rock an irritable Gilbert in her arms, "he would not go down for a nap today," says Gail.

"Was he resisting a rest?" Holly laughs at her own joke.

Gail scowls, she's so tired, she bursts into laughter, laughing so hard she starts to cry.

"Here," Holly offers, holding out her arms, "Let me try."

"Thank you," says Gail immediately giving the baby over. Gail immediately falls into the couch, hoping to have a little nap of her own before she has to go. Which she does, Gail loves her new life.

* * *

thanks for reading.

i think i'm almost done with new name.

i'll update meet and greet in a couple of days.


	31. Chapter 31

"I'm still not used to this," says Holly. She has called Gail who is working the front desk hoping to break up her day, well maybe both of their days. Holly has become accustomed to Gail sometimes complaining about how slow it is to sit at the front desk and answer the phone, watching her friends and coworkers rush by her on their way to somewhere while she just sits there.

"Not used to what? Having a baby? You waited nine months for that baby, I'm pretty sure you can't return him. You need to get used to him." Attempt at humour-check, Gail can hear Holly roll her eyes over the phone. "OR do you mean talking to me on the phone?"

"Of course I mean talking to you on the phone, you are just as annoying and insane on the phone as you are off the phone," Gail can hear Gilbert laughing on Holly's end.

"I aim to be consistent." Gail's stomach growls.

"What was that?" asks Holly.

"You could hear that? That was my stomach, I'm starving, I didn't have time for breakfast. I left my lunch at home on the counter, and now Chris is behind me eating pizza he wont share," she swivels around in her chair to scowl at him. He smiles back and waves his greasy hand at her.

"I could bring you your lunch," Holly says a little eagerly, excited about getting out of the house and seeing other humans, she loves spending all this time with Gilbert, getting to watch him grow day to day, this is what she wanted, but the prospect of getting out of the house for a little bit is too tempting to pass up.

"Would you?" asks Gail, who's currently pinned to the desk and can't leave, no matter how hard she's tried to grab someone's attention to come sit here for a couple of minutes and go grab a snack from the break room, Gail hates showing up to parade late.

"I would."

"Ok," says Gail, "I mean it was your fault I didn't have time for breakfast this morning."

Holly laughs breathily, "would you like me to recap what you did this morning instead of have breakfast?" Holly drops her voice making it husky.

"Err, no Holly that's okay, I think I remember," trying to keep everything professional, she is at work, and now has somehow caught the eye of someone. Steve. She has caught the eye of Steve who is now making his way over to her desk. She motions for him to bring her something to drink, he nods his head, Gail internally cheers herself, buying some time, and hoping to avoid an awkward conversation.

"Are you sure?" Holly asks, still in a deeper voice than normal, "I could easily remind you…"

Gail's face starting to redden, starting to get flummoxed as she begins to replay in her head the events of this morning, "no it's okay Holly," she sees Steve leaving the break room, now on his way to her desk, "see you in a little bit, don't forget to bring the baby, I'm hanging up now."

"Are you sure?" Holly asks one more time as she begins to laugh, just picturing Gail's face going from complete calm to not.

Gail fumbles with her phone as she tries to end the call. Gail sighs. Steve comes to the front desk with a mug of coffee for his sister, "Holly?" Steve asks, he doesn't know why he asks, he knows the answer. "What did she have to say?" Gail reddens all over again, thinking back to what Holly was saying and where her mind was starting to wander. Steve takes his sister's red face and quietness the wrong way, thinking Gail messed up, "aw Gail," he chastises, "I like Holly don't screw this up."

"I'm not screwing this up," Gail insists, "she's bringing Gil and my lunch down to the station."

"Oh," Steve says excitedly, "that's okay then, let me know when they get here. I want to hold my nephew."

"Whatever," says Gail as she shoos her brother away, now completely done with him now that he brought her some coffee, "don't you have something you should be doing?"

Steve pats his little sister's shoulder and in his best 'Terminator' impression, "I'll be back."

"Great," says Gail sarcastically and rolls her eyes.

* * *

Gail makes Steve pass her the baby, knowing that as soon as he gets in her arms, arms that he knows, he will stop crying. "What's going on eh? Big mean Uncle Steve making you cry?"

Steve sits on the front desk smiling, '"eh?'" he questions.

"Pardon?"

"You said 'eh'" says Steve. "You never said 'eh'," Steve points out, "something you picked up in Moonbeam?"

"Must have," says Gail, not seeing the big deal.

"It's funny; you sound like a real Canadian."

"I am a real Canadian…" She looks down at her baby boy in her arms, "I understand why you cried. Steve is completely annoying and if me crying could get him to leave you know I would."

"Okay, okay," says Steve holding up his hands, "I'll stop being annoying, maybe, now can I please try holding my nephew again?"

"What do you think?" Gail asks Gilbert, "should we give it another try?"

Just then Gilbert sees Holly returning from talking to Traci and Oliver, bringing them with her. He reaches his arms out towards Holly. Holly picks him up out of Gail's arms and passes him off to Traci, where he nestles into the new arms.

"What the-?" says Steve. "How did you do that?" completely jealous of his girlfriend.

"Experience," smiles Traci. She breathes him in, "he still smells good."

"I want to smell the baby," whines Steve.

"Well, maybe if you didn't make him cry…" Gail trails off.

"You say it like I did it on purpose," says a pouty Steve.

"Well, you have been known to in the past…" Gail trails off yet again.

* * *

Holly and Gail go to Montreal in the summer, Gail's in the Stewart's swimming pool, holding little Gilbert, both wearing sunhats to protect them from the sun's rays as well as an ample amount of sunscreen. Holly is lounging on the deck with her siblings, admiring her little family in the pool. "I like Gail," says Yvette, "she's nice."

"Nice to look at," says Walter.

"That's my wife!" says Holly, "but, yes she is." Holly positions her arms under her head to better see her wife and son in the pool, happy that they were able to get away from Toronto for the week, happy to finally spend some time with her side of the family. Wanting to take the focus away from her wife Holly says, "Noah's getting so big, and Tiffany's pregnant, do you know what you're having?"

"No, not yet, it's too soon to tell," Walter looks over at his family, his wife lounging on a cot under a tree with their son pressing his ear against her belly to try and hear the baby. "He really likes the idea of having a sibling." He turns to look at his sisters, "I mean, who wouldn't want a cool older brother?"

Both of his younger sisters roll their eyes, "I don't know what that would be like," says Yvette, Holly high fives her.

"Hey!" says Walter. The two ladies laugh. Walter doesn't mind though, that's just the loving and kidding relationship they have. "How about you Holly, are you going to have another kid?"

"I don't know, and I haven't talked to Gail about it. I'm just happy right now, I don't need anything else."

"I hear ya," says Walter wistfully.

"You two need to stop," says Yvette, "making me feel all left out without a family of my own."

"You just have to be patient little sister, I'm sure your someone special will come along," advises Walter.

"You said that two summers ago to Holly," remembers Yvette.

"Yeah, and look how well that worked, we didn't see her for like a whole year then she shows up married and with a kid."

"You make it sound like I was trying to be secretive," gripes Holly, "even though I didn't have a choice."

"Whatever Holly, all I know is we don't hear from you for several months, then this guy and his girlfriend appear on mom and dad's doorstep, then they're gone and come home to tell us you're pregnant." Walter perfectly recaps everything.

"Sorry?"

Yvette laughs, "don't listen to him Holly, he doesn't get it."

"You could have come to visit," comments Holly.

"And stay where exactly? Your town house is becoming too small, I'll somehow end up sharing Gil's crib," Walter tries to joke.

"You're right, my house is getting too small, I left the spare room a spare room and put Gilbert in the study," agrees Holly, "but if you were to come, with Noah and Tiffany-"

"And me," chimes in Yvette.

"It would be quite cramped," continues Holly. "That's another thing I need to talk to Gail about…"

"Well, I'm too hot, time to cool off." Walter stands. "Yvette, want to help me welcome Gail to the family?"

Yvette stands up and shucks her t-shirt. Holly's siblings run to the pool and cannon ball into it. Gail turns her back on the splash to protect Gilbert from the large waves coming their way. "Hey!" she yells "I've got a baby here!"

"Holly, come get you kid," shouts Walter.

Holly quickly jumps out of her spot and rushes to the pool to grab Gilbert.

"What's going on?" questions Gail. She passes Gilbert to Holly.

"I love you," says Holly giving her a quick kiss.

"What's happening?" asks Gail, as she feels someone has grabbed onto each of her ankles, yanking her feet out from under her, and she is now underwater. She comes up sputtering for air, and sees the two Stewart siblings laughing ultra hard in the deep end. "You'll pay for that!" as she swims after them. She catches up to Walter pretty easily and dunks him, as Yvette pulls herself out of the pool so she doesn't drown from her laughter, "you're next!" Gail shouts. Good thing learning to swim was a necessity at the Peck house.

* * *

Fortunately or unfortunately, Gail hasn't decided yet, but Elaine has kept her word, she shows up at Gail and Holly's about once a week and spends some time with her daughter and grandson. Sometimes Elaine and Bill even take Gilbert for the weekend to let Gail and Holly catch up on some much needed sleep. Even though the baby has started sleeping through the nights, those extra naps during the day are a savior to them.

"Holly's parents have a swimming pool and Gil loved it," Gail tells her mom.

"Oh," Elaine thinks for a second.

"Not even remotely afraid of the water, he stayed in my arms, and he kicked his little legs," Gail wiggles her son's legs, "and he splashed about with his free arm, he had a blast, it was like a big bath tub, wasn't it?" She gets Gilbert to giggle.

"Our backyard is big enough for a pool," says Elaine, "and you kids always wanted a pool, your father and I were talking about it not too long ago, and we decided we would finally put in a swimming pool."

Gail gets a look on her face.

"What's that look for?"

"Nothing," Gail shakes her head knowingly. Knowing Elaine loves little Gil and wants to spend more time with him and Gail and Holly. "Whatever you want, it's your house."

"Exactly," says Elaine, with a furrow on her face. "It's my house, if I want to put in a swimming pool, I will."

Gail desperately wants to laugh, but doesn't, not wanting to reverse Elaine's decision. Gail would rather go to her parent's house to swim then step on an unkown bandage in some public pool. "Great," says Gail, completely elated at the idea, her childhood wish is finally coming true.

* * *

Something's been bothering Gail, she can't put her finger on it. Her life is great, she's married to the most wonderful woman in the world, they have a beautiful baby boy, her family and friends are completely supportive, work is going great, but Gail feels a little off. Something's been turning over in head irritating her. Gail sends a text, "hi Keith, it's Gladys. I have a lot to tell you, if you're willing to listen. Give me a call sometime. Also my name isn't Gladys. It's Gail. I hope you Stacey and your baby are good."

* * *

Me too Qbonbon, I can't wait to see what how it ends! I'm probably going to end up stalling, more like keep stalling, writing random snippets of life until I can think up something.

Thanks for reading.


	32. Chapter 32

I was told a little bit ago that pulling Gail and Holly out of Moonbeam abruptly didn't allow for them to properly say goodbye to the friends that they did make, so that is what this is.

* * *

Gail gets home from a late night shift, "Gail?" Holly questions into their bedroom.

"Just getting on my pjs." She pulls back the covers and slides in right behind Holly.

"Oh my gosh Gail!" Holly exclaims, "you're freezing!" and shivers.

"I know," says Gail, "I had to work the police tape, and I haven't gotten warm yet. It's only autumn but it's already cold, it's going to be a freezing winter," she wiggles even closer to Holly.

Holly grumbles.

"Shhh, go to sleep nerd," Gail suggests, who's already half asleep now that she has found a warm spot.

"I can't sleep now, now I'm freezing!"

Gail yawns, "you have to be up in a couple hours with Gil, get some rest." She throws her arm over the brunette and somehow wiggles even closer.

Holly about to protest, but actually doesn't mind the cold, not now now that Gail is nestled in behind her, she falls back asleep in Gail's embrace.

* * *

Holly hears Gilbert squawking in his crib. Gail hears it too, she sees Holly get out of bed, so she closes her eyes to get some extra sleep, working one too many shifts this week, happy to get some more shut eye. Holly goes into Gilbert's room and picks him up, "hi baby!" Gilbert makes some cute noises, happy to see Holly. She snuggles him and the squawking begins again, "you're hungry, eh." Holly carries Gilbert to the rocking chair and sits down, ready to feed him. She rocks them back and forth listening to little Gil's hungry noises. After he's done and she burps him, she looks at the clock and decides to take him into her room. She lays him on his back on the bed; she opens the blind and hears Gail make a noise. Gil must have heard it too because his head looks towards Gail. He sees the blonde head and immediately turns onto his belly and begins to crawl towards her. Holly smiles at the two on the bed. Gilbert gets closer to his mom and places his little hand on her cheek; Gail opens her eyes and sees two little blue eyes staring at her. "Hi baby," she whispers. Gilbert gets the biggest smile on his face, that Gail can't help but to reflect on her own. Holly joins them and lies on her side to mirror Gail and box Gilbert in. "Morning nerd," Gail greets Holly.

"Morning," says Holly with a soft smile, she places a hand on her son's back and looks over at her wife, completely content with her life. She says the thought that's been occurring in her head a lot lately, "I don't know how I thought I'd be able to do this alone."

Gail smiles at her wife, "I'm glad you decided to let me help you. That you chose me to experience all of this with."

Holly lets out a breath of air, kind of a laugh, knowing that it wasn't just her choice that it was Gail's choice too, "me too."

Silence takes hold in the bedroom until Holly breaks it, "I wish you worked more manageable hours though." Gail opens her mouth to explain, "I know you were supposed to be home by 4:30 yesterday but Chloe called in sick and someone needed to fill in, and I did say I was okay with it, it's just, I miss you when you're not here and I know some day I'll be stuck at work and you'll be here, but it would be nice to know you had a set schedule." Holly finally says what's been bothering her for the last couple of months, how Gail heads off to work on a Monday and then Holly barely feels like she sees her until Thursday or whatever the schedule is that week.

Gail stares at the brunette, "there is something I could do."

"I don't want you to quit your job."

"No, I was going to suggest I apply to become a detective. They mostly work 8-5, unless there's a case and they have to work later, but generally speaking I should be home for dinner every night."

"Oh," says Holly. "Would you want to do that?"

Gail shrugs her shoulders, "I've applied before…I enjoy patrolling the city with my partner, but I do believe I'm ready for a change. I was thinking about it the other day, how I'm missing so many little milestones with Gilbert, like when did he learn how to crawl?" Gilbert tilts his head at his mom, "yes you," Gail tickles his little belly, "you're getting so big." She wiggles backward giving Gil more space to crawl to watch him. "Look at him go Holly!"

Holly smiles and redirects him so he crawls towards Gail instead of their feet. "So, what are you going to do next?" Gilbert not used to his head yet, topples over and rolls onto his back.

"I'll talk to Steve; see if he's heard of any openings. I might have to take a couple of classes, but nothing I can't handle."

"And you're sure about this?" questions Holly, not wanting to be the reason Gail gives up her current position.

"Yes," Gail untangles her arm from the covers and reaches across to place her hand on Holly's cheek, "I want to be home as much as I can." Home. Gail never realized how much she loves that word. Home. She smiles at the thought.

* * *

After discussing possible job openings, "I can't believe you're going back to Moonbeam," says Steve.

Gail just shrugs her shoulders, hoping that that's a good enough answer.

"Should you be going back?" asks Steve.

Gail rolls her eyes, "of course. I'm going back to see my friends, and to see how they're doing."

Steve looks at his sister with a weird look, "you don't have friends, maybe Holly does, but you…"

Gail sighs, "I don't know why I even bother talking to you," she gets up ready to leave.

He calls out to her, "wait! I was only kidding." Steve sighs, "you were always so sensitive," he says it like it's the solution to what he said.

Gail stands in the doorway, not even going to respond to that, ready to go back out on patrol with Chris, "I have to go," she says as she does leave. "Let me know if you hear anything." Gail doesn't see what the big deal is, her and Keith have talked and it truly sounded like he was excited for Holly and Gail to come back to Moonbeam with their little plus one.

* * *

Gail, Holly, and Gilbert travel up to Moonbeam. They head straight for Keith and Stacey's, where they will be staying for a couple of days. After exiting the vehicle, Gail immediately cracks her back, Holly opens the back door to scoop up Gil, who's ready to be out of the baby seat. Keith and Stacey appear at the front door with their bundle of joy and meet their guests in the driveway. Gail not sure what to do, considering she's never hugged them before, is now an appropriate time? Keith sticks out his hand, Gail shakes it, relieved the decision was made for her. "I'm so glad you guys could come," he says.

Stacey and Holly attempt a hug while still holding their babies. "We're so glad you guys don't hate us," says Holly.

"Well…." says Stacey, "this one," nodding her head at Keith, "was a little sore that your wife left without saying goodbye." Keith kicks the ground like a child, Stacey clearly sharing something Keith did not want her to.

"We didn't mean to hurt anyone's feelings, we just needed to get home," Gail says.

"It's okay Gladys," says Stacey, "we understand."

"It's actually Gail," Gail looks at Keith "didn't you tell her?"

"No," smiles Keith.

"You ass," Keith laughs at Gail, Gail points at herself, "Gail," she points at Holly, "Holly," she points at Gilbert, "Gilbert."

"Oh cool, your baby has the same name as your last name. Gilbert Gilbert."

"Actually, we're the Stewarts." Holly looks at Keith, "why didn't you tell her anything?"

Keith can't help but laugh at the scene he has created, only him finding it funny. "Want to head inside or go around back, we built a swing set for baby Millie." Everyone follows Keith into the backyard, "voila," he says, "built it myself…with some help from Dan."

"Looks good Keith."

"Thanks Heather, I mean Holly." He takes Millie from Stacey and plops her in the baby swing, "speaking of Dan, once everyone heard you two were coming back to town they all wanted to see you two, so we invited the neighbours over tomorrow for a late fall BBQ, hope that's okay?"

"Of course," says Holly, "we were wondering how we would get around to see everyone, this is perfect."

"Great…one day back in Moonbeam and already I have to go to a social gathering…" complains Gail.

Holly elbows her, "why don't you take Gilbert and push him in the swing with Keith and Millie-"

"I don't think they'll all fit," wise cracks Gail.

Holly ignores her, "I'm going to unpack the car."

"I'll help," offers Stacey.

* * *

Keith and Stacey's backyard gets a little crowded with all the neighbours squished in. Erin and Jack are there, along with Evan and Ellie and their kids. Holly was so happy to see Ms. Dunn and Annie and a still somewhat shy Henri, who may still be working her way back into the resident's of Moonbeam's good graces. Dan and Dorothy showed up with their kids. As soon as Dorothy sees Gail she immediately hugs her, clearly happy to have chosen her family and life in Moonbeam than to still be connected to her no good brother. Gail has to let the hug happen, there's no chance for her to stop it, grimacing the whole time, but also happy to see that Dorothy is doing well.

Gail holding Gilbert walking around with little Evie following them, Gail catches a glimpse of a smiling Holly, knowing this was a very good idea, a good idea to come back to Moonbeam to see these people again. To see the people that took them in no questions asked, well maybe some questions asked, but were still able to form friendships.

* * *

The time in Moonbeam passed quickly, Gail helps pack up the car as Holly says goodbye to Stacey and Keith and little baby Millie.

"Next time you guys will have to come our way," suggests Holly. "How about next summer?"

"We would love to," Stacey agrees. "I haven't been to Toronto in years."

Gail does hug Keith goodbye, and they all promise to stay in touch.

With everyone properly buckled in, Gail sends the car into reverse and pulls out of the driveway. Gail merges onto the highway, she looks into the rear view and notices Gilbert is already fast asleep; she's about to say something to Holly but sees she to is dozing away. Gail smiles to herself, happy to be going home, home with her family.

* * *

Thanks for reading. I think this may be the end of new name. Thanks for reading this story, I enjoyed writing it.

* * *

Gail walks up the front steps of the townhouse; she notices a newspaper on the doormat. She bends down to pick it up. She sighs and mumbles to herself, "I thought she was only kidding when she said she was going to start subscribing to the newspaper."

Gail enters the house just as Holly exits the kitchen holding Gilbert at a distance, "oh good, you're home. Can you take the baby, he didn't like his lunch." Gail smiles as she now sees that Holly is covered in baby food, on her shirt and in her hair. "He's ready for a nap, do you mind getting him to sleep while I take a shower."

Gail nods as she drops all of her stuff at the door and frees her arms for the baby. Holly passes the baby over with a smile on her face, "thanks you're the best."

"I know."

Holly goes upstairs for a shower while Gail takes Gilbert into the family room, where she rocks him back and forth. Gail can hear his breath evening out and see his eyes getting heavy as he quietly drifts off to sleep. Gail decides to lie down on the couch with Gilbert resting his head over her heart, knowing the calm beat of her heart will keep him sleeping. Holly eventually comes down the stairs and sees Gail and Gilbert lying on the couch, she decides to join them. She squeezes between Gail and the back of the couch. Gail opens one eye to look at her wife, "comfy?"

"Yup" says Holly as she rests her head on Gail's shoulder, and placing a hand on Gilbert's back, "never better."


End file.
